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I. 


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III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI 


VII. 
VIII. 

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THE 


INDUSTRIAL  SITUATION 


QUESTION  OF  WAGES 


A  STUDY  IN  SOCIAL  PHYSIOLOGY 


BY 


J.  SCHOENHOF 


AUTHOR   OF        DESTRUCTIVE   INFLUENCE   OF  THE   TARIFF,       ETC. 


>    >  . 


',  •    •     •J  > 


*>»    t  J  ,    »»»*,' 


NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

^\^c  Jinichcrboclur  |)nss 

1SS5 


COPYRIGHT    BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

1885 


.      ••    .     ••      •     •♦•  •       •      •      •*•  •••   ••• 

. .  r  I  •!  !  1  *  • •:  •   • 

,•• .  ::•:.*.•. .•      •  • 

V  -.;  .V.  ••:  •••*.    •♦•.*' 


'     '  :  '  . 
•  •     : . 

» •    •  *  • 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


HC 

PREFACE. 


The  nature  of  this  work  needs  some  explanation.  When  1 
wrote  the  first  chapter  I  had  merely  the  intention  of  criticising  in 
the  public  i)ress  the  misconceptions  under  which  the  great  ques- 
tions of  the  day  were  held  by  the  political  powers  then  in  control 
of  the  machinery  of  government.  Not  alone  did  the  government 
organs  show  an  incomprehensible  ignorance  of  the  true  elements 
of  price-making  in  products,  but  the  public  press,  the  legislative 
authorities,  the  public  speakers,  showed  the  same  absence  of  a 
J  correct  understanding  of  the  relations  existing  between  the  earn- 
vvsj  J"Ss  of  the  working  classes  in  different  countries  and  the  prices  of 
their  product.  The  fact  that  the  American  laborer  earns  more 
than  the  European,  is  still  taken  as  an  indication  of  our  inability 
to  compete  in  neutral  markets,  or  in  our  own  markets,  without  the 
aid  of  an  artificial  device  known  as  a  protective  tariff.  In  all 
these  discussions  it  is  usually  overlooked  that  the  labor-price  by 
the  piece  is  the  only  price,  the  only  wage  value,  which  concerns 
^  us.  That  the  labor-price  by  the  piece  may  be  a  relatively  low 
one,  while  earnings  are  high,  has  seldom  been  brought  out  in  the 
J  reports  collected  by  our  official  informants.  To  all  students  of 
the  productive  processes  prevailing  in  the  different  countries,  and 
of  the  labor  question  in  general,  the  facts  relating  thereto  would 
have  been  the  only  valuable  contribution  the  government's  organs 
could  have  added  to  the  literature  of  the  day. 

My  own  experience  of  business  gave  me  sufficient  insight  into 
values  of  merchandise  in  general  and  of  the  operations  all  pro- 
ducts have  to  pass  through  until  they  reach  the  final  price  paid  by 
the  consumer.  Direct  study  of  the  facts  opened  the  lines  which 
I  have  followed  up  in  this  book.  It  seemed  to  me  of  first  import- 
ance to  the  formation  of  correct  opinions  on  the  subject  at  issue, 
that  we  should  know  the  metliods  by  which  production  is  carried 
on  here  and  elsewhere.     To  this  end  I  deemed  it  essential  to  re- 


^ 


111 


208158 


IV 

view  the  great  branches  of  manufacturing  industry,  principally  the 
manufacture  of  textiles  and  of  metals,  which,  outside  of  agricul- 
ture, forms  the  principal  basis  of  our  entire  national  activity. 

Having  once   entered  upon   this   work,  I   felt  it   incumbent   to 
bring  out  the  close  connection  wliich  i)roduction  and  distribution 
have  with  each  other,  and  to  show  the  importance  of  leaving  the 
latter  as  free  from  restraint  as  the  former.     Of  not  less  importance 
was  it  to  show  the  difference  between  the  value  of  the  product  as 
paid  by  the  consumer  and  the  price  paid  to  the  producer,  as  con- 
taining all  the  elements  which  contribute  to  the  inequalities  exist- 
ing in  society.     It  is  clear,  however,  that  tliis  difference  is  not  to 
be  viewed  in  the  nature  of  a  forced  contribution  paid  by  labor  to 
capital,  which  is  the  ruling  doctrine  of  socialistic  writers  ;  but  as 
due  to  various  elements  of  distribution,  just  as  necessary  and  es- 
sential to  the  well-being  of  the  producer  as  though  he  conducted 
these  processes  himself.     The  tradesmen   of  former  times  were 
producer  and  distributor  in  one  person.     Tlie  nailmaker  in  the 
Taunus  villages  near  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  of  whom  I   spoke  in 
a  previous  work,  "  Destructive  Influence  of  the  Tariff,"  combines 
the  two  characters  to  the  present  day.     Wliat  work   he  finishes 
during  the  days  of  the  week  he  carries  on  his  back  into  the  neigh- 
boring towns  and  villages  on  Saturdays.      He  is  producer,  distrib- 
utor, and   carrier,  and   retains   all   the   profits  of   middlemen  and 
transportation  companies  for  his   own  use.     Yet  few  would  say 
that  his  lot  is  as  good  as  that  of  a  nailmaker  in  one  of  our  nail-mills. 
The  great  lines  of  activity  which  modern  development  has  called 
into  existence,  have  of  course  done  much  to  disru]:)t  old  organiza- 
tions of  labor.     The  old  landmarks,  so  dear  to  those  who  have 
been  reared  within  their  limits,  are  ruthlessly  destroyed.     Myriads 
of  independent  and  industrious   producers  are  swallowed  up   by 
mammoth   organizations.      Wealth   is    accumulated    by   fortunate 
men  who  are  able  to  control,  in    production   or  distribution,  the 
labor    result    of  thousands  and   thousands    of    workers.       But   it 
would  be  useless  to  proclaim  against  this  great  revolution  wrought 
by  the  wheel  of  time.     Great  revolutions  bring  up  disturbances  of 
balances.     The  world  is  thrown  out  of  gear,  so  to  say.     But  we 
have  to  get  accustomed  to  changes,  necessary  results  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  human  mind  when  freed  from  all  restraints. 


That  only  good  can  come  from  this  ultimately,  though  the  transi- 
tion period  be  never  so  painful,  is  clear.  To  show  this  by  a  care- 
ful analysis  of  all  the  organic  elements  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion is  the  aim  of  these  papers,  and  must  henceforth  become  the 
principal  task  of  Political  Economy.  I  have  attempted  to  outline 
the  main  parts.  I  have  not  given  more  than  a  mere  sketch.  I 
have  reserved  for  a  later  period  the  task  of  following  out  with 
greater  detail  and  more  scientific  precision  the  lines  laid  out  in 
Chapter  XI.  For  the  present  I  must  confine  myself  to  these  nar- 
rower limits.  Many  very  important  features  of  our  development  I 
have  not  even  been  able  to  touch  upon.  Much  remains  to  be  ex- 
plained ;  many  are  the  fallacies  yet  to  be  removed.  To  this  pres- 
ent day  the  veneration  in  which  capital  is  held  in  social  physiology 
is  extravagant  ;  equally  extravagant  the  hatred  of  capital  felt  by 
socialists  and  labor  agitators.  In  this  connection  I  will  only  briefly 
state,  that  the  great  cause  of  misunderstanding  lies  in  the  miscon- 
ception of  capital.  Capital  is  usually  taken  as  the  employer  of 
labor.  The  employer,  however,  is  a  person  entirely  independent  of 
capital.  He  uses  capital,  either  his  own,  or  borrowed  capital,  or 
no  capital  at  all,  and  still  he  is  the  employer  of  labor.  As  an 
employer,  as  an  organizer,  he  earns  all  the  net  profits  of  enter- 
prise, whether  productive  or  distributive. 

It  is  therefore  evident,  that  the  usual  condemnation  of  capital,  to 
which  we  are  treated  with  equal  frequency  from  platforms  and  the 
labor  press,  is  meaningless  ;  as  meaningless  as  the  self-glorification 
set  up  in  the  opposite  camp.  The  employing  classes,  however, 
will  appropriate  to  themselves  the  profit  share  of  organized  labor, 
so  long  as  the  working  classes  do  not  possess  the  proper  skill 
and  knowledge  to  conduct  these  enterprises  to  their  own  and 
sole  benefit.  The  tendency  of  modern  civilization  is  in  this 
direction.  But  so  far  we  can  discover  only  a  drift  and  a 
world-wide  distance.  Education  and  enlightenment  are  the 
guides  to  all  great  forward  movements  of  society,  and  will  lead 
in  this  instance  too.  But  competition  is  gradually  bringing  about 
the  improvement  in  actual  conditions,  which  has  been  held  to 
be  only  attainable  by  extreme  measures. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Our  Industrial  Situation. 

Misleading  nature  of  consular  reports.  Labor  price  of  product  and  time- 
wages  different  things.  Comparison  of  prices  of  American  and  Ger- 
man mill-products      •••.......! 

CHAPTER  II, 

The  Views  Entertained  at  High  Quarters  Compared  with  the 

Real  Facts. 

Erroneous  economic  views.     Conditions  leading  to  great  productiveness    .        ii 

CHAPTER  III. 

Cotton   Goods. 

Average   productiveness   in    textile   industries   of    United  States,   United 

Kingdom  and  Germany      .         .         .         .         .         ,         ,         ,         .18 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Woollens. 

How  intelligent  reports  on  foreign  industries  ought  to  be  constructed. 
Greater  extent  of  the  factory  system  in  America.  Machinery.  Re- 
pressive influence  on  foreign  commerce  of  the  tariff  on  wool.  Increas- 
mg  use  of  shoddy  and  cotton  in  wool  fabrics  in  America  in  consequence 
of  the  tariff  on  wool  ..........       23 

CHAPTER  V. 

Silks. 

The  true  relationship  of  values  here  and  abroad.     Higher  cost  of  American 

silks  due  to  other  causes  than  higher  labor-cost 32 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Loading  and  Dyeing  of  Silks. 

Adulteration  of  silks.  English  reports  on  adulteration.  Great  superiority 
of  Continental  manufacturers  over  English  and  American  in  skill  and 
technical  knowledge.     Dyeing  and  finishing 83 

vii 


VIU 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Adulteration  of  Fabrics  Largely  Due  to  High  Tariff-Taxation. 

I'ACK 

Great  demand  in  the  United  States  for  cheap  fabrics.  A  consequence  of 
the  great  consuming  power  of  the  masses.  Germany's  and  America's 
consumption  of  dry  goods  contrasted         ......       48 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Production  of  Textiles  in  General. 

The    importance    of    the    converting    industries — principally    in    America. 

Labor-saving  devices  peculiarly  American  .....       58 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Iron  and   Steel. 

How  our  prices  compare  with  foreign  prices.  The  inroads  which  steel  is 
making  in  the  puddle-iron  industry.  A  tax  upon  the  material  is  a  tax 
upon  work  and  wages.  Our  prices  cheaper  than  foreign  prices,  if  the 
higher  cost  of  the  raw  material  is  deducted.  Competition  and  inven- 
tion frustrating  combination        ........        66 

CHAPTER  X. 

Pig-Iron. 

The  competitive  aspect  of  its  production.     The  importance  of  free  ore. 

Royalties.     The  transportation  question.     Southern  iron    ...       76 

CHAPTER  XL 

The  Nature  and  Composition  of  Prices. 

The  fallacy  of  the  money  theory.  History  of  prices.  Declining  prices 
and  great  abundance  of  money.  The  true  price-making  factors.  In- 
fluence of  outside  facts  on  prices  and  English  rents    ....        84 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  True  Value  of  Our  Annual  Production. 

The  share  the  different  classes  have  in  its  distributive  value.  Agriculture. 
Misstatements.  Manufactures.  Wrong  impressions  created  by  mis- 
use of  statistics.  Actual  earnings  of  the  producers  and  the  distributive 
value  of  the  per  capita  product 97 


IX 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Wages  Question. 

PAGE. 

Increasing  productiveness  of  labor.  Reduclion  of  tlie  pro])ortion  which 
labor  boars  ((j  material  in  llie  price  of  any  given  material.  Cheapen- 
ing of  the  cost  of  the  product  leading  to  its  greater  accessibility  to  the 
masses.  Increase  of  the  money-earnings  of  the  masses.  Reduction  in 
the  liours  of  labor       ..........      io8 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Influence  of  Freedom  on  the  Conditions  ok  the  Working  Classes. 

A  historic  parallel.      Germany  in  tlie  latter  part  of  the  middle  ages.     On 

guilds  and  workingmen's  associations  .  .  .  .  .  .130 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Some  Economic  Truths  Disproven  by  Facts. 

The  fallacy  that  density  of  population  leads  to  poverty.  The  fallacy  that 
great  competition  for  employment  results  in  lessened  earnings. 
French  society  of  the  xvii.  century  compared  to  the  composition  of 
American  society  of  the  present  time  ......      141 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Application  of  General  Facts  to  Our  Industrial  Situation. 

Best  European  authorities  proclaiming  American  methods  superior  to  any 
others.  Ocular  proof  in  American  and  European  employments  of 
both  elements  side  by  side.  American  characteristics.  Great  produc- 
tiveness of  labor  in  general.  Universal  application  of  machinery. 
Profuseness  of  production,  necessarily  requiring  great  consumption  and 
unrestrained  outlet  for  the  product      .         .         ,         .         .         .         .150 


CHAPTER  I. 

OUR  INDUSTRIAL  SITUATION — THE  ADVANTAGES  WHICH  CAN  BE 
DERIVED  FROM  A  WELL-ORGANIZED,  INTELLIGENT  CONSULAR 
SERVICE. 

The  most  ardent  believer  in  the  doctrine  "  America  for  the 
Americans,"  will  not  deny  that  we  are  commercially  interdepend- 
ent with  other  nations.  The  closest  constructionist  of  protection, 
from  the  supervising  architect  down  to  the  humble  hod-carrier 
engaged  in  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  our  Chinese 
Wall,  must  admit  that  we  must  look  to  other  countries  as  pur- 
chasers of  our  surplus  products.  Of  the  aggregate  of  our  agricul- 
tural produce  we  have,  on  a  fair  average,  about  20  per  cent,  to 
spare.  Tiie  manufacturing  nations  of  Europe  are  eager  buyers 
of  our  raw  materials  of  manufacture,  or  of  our  food  supplies. 
The  most  patriotic  American  would  rather  take  something  in 
return  than  burn  or  destroy  this  surplus  product  of  our  husband- 
men. Barring  the  Pennsylvania  school,  no  one,  least  of  all  our 
agriculturists,  would  consider  it  good  economy.  In  point  of  fact, 
we  get  as  much  in  return  as  we  send  abroad.  Our  wall-builders' 
honest  intentions  to  the  contrary  nothwithstanding,  half  of  our 
imports  consist  of  manufactured  goods.  Of  twenty  articles  of 
manufacture,  in  i860,  under  a  low  tariff  of  an  average  of  18  per 
cent.,  $180,000,000,  and  in  1884,  under  a  high  tariff  of  an  average 
of  42  per  cent.,  ^300,000,000,  were  the  aggregate  amounts  of  our 
imports  in  the  same  lines  of  goods. 

Adding  duties  and  expenses  collected  on  imports  to  their 
foreign  cost,  so  as  to  bring  values  to  our  basis  of  prices  in  like 
goods,  wc  were  still  importing  in  the  fiscal  year  of  1884  : 

In  silk  goods,  150  taking  100  as  the  basis  of  our  manufacture. 

In  woollens,  30       "       lOO       "         "          "                  " 

In  flax  and  jute  goods,  1,400       "       100       "         "          "                 " 

In  cotton  goods  over,  20       "       100       "         "          "                  " 

In  iron  and  j-tCL-l  mfcts.  over,  25        "       100       "         "          "                  " 

I 


At  the  same  time  the  home  industries  in  these  very  lines  are 
now  going  through  a  period  of  depression  and  stagnation,  the  like 
of  which  has  not  been  witnessed  at  any  time  before,  not  even 
during  the  darkest  time  of  1874  to  1879. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  we  have  to  consider  very  earnestly 
our  foreign  commercial  relations,  and  that  our  foreign  connec- 
tions, along  with  all  competing  price-making  factors,  must  be 
studied  from  all  the  points  of  view  which  our  complex  economic 
system  presents.  V/e  are  an  integral  part  of  the  great  world  of 
commerce.  A  policy  of  exclusion  may  form  the  religious  belief 
of  a  few  fanatical  doctrinaires,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  as 
much  connected  with  the  outside  world  as  Pennsylvania  is  linked 
to  Virginia,  and  Alabama  or  Ohio  to  Texas.  Industrial  changes 
in  Germany,  France,  or  Great  Britain  do  not  affect  us  any  less 
than  Pennsylvania  pig-iron  is  influenced  by  the  advent  of  Alabama 
iron  upon  Eastern  markets. 

The  plain  fact,  that  we  are  still  importing  at  this  time,  in  the 
aggregate,  of  metals  and  textiles,  as  much  as,  and,  if  counting 
duties,  more  by  a  good  sum  than  the  combined  imports  of  Great 
Britain  and  Germany  amount  to  in  the  same  goods,'  ought  to 
prove  the  utter  impossibility  of  creating  an  exclusive  system  by 


'  Imports  of 

United  States, 

Great  Britain, 

Germany. 

Woven  textiles,  1884 

Metal  infts.  down  to  pig  and  bar, 
1884 

130,000,000 
47,000,000 

100,000,000 
40,000,000 

25,000,000 
16,000,000 

$177,000,000 

140, 000, coo 

41,000,000 

Adding  duties  collected  on  these  imports,  ours  exceed  by  far  those  of  two  of 
our  most  prominent  competitors,  one  of  whom  admits  ail  these  manufactures  free 
of  duty,  while  the  other  subjects  them  to  moderate  import  duties,  averaging  on 
the  aggregate  of  imported  manufactures  about  12I  per  cent. 

The  account  stands  then  as  follows. 


Imports  of 

United  States. 

Great  Britain. 

Germany. 

Woven  textiles  (millions) 
Metals     ... 

Duties. 
64. 
16. 

Total. 
194. 
63- 

Total. 

100. 

40. 

Duties. 

3. 
I. 

Total. 
28. 
17- 

Million  dollars  .      .      .      . 

80. 

257- 

140. 

4- 

45- 

anv  rational  or  even  senii-rational  device.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
are  not  alone  capable  of  holding  our  oun  in  the  markets  of  the 
world  with  our  agricultural  products,  but  are  under-selling  and 
out-stripping  pauper  countries  in  their  best  markets.  But  what  is 
more  striking  in  this  field  of  economic  phenomena,  we  are  in 
many  branches  of  manufacturing  industries  the  best  and  cheapest 
producers,  not  only  able  to  compete  with,  but  to  undersell  the 
most-developed  and  best-equipped  manufacturing  nations  of  the 
Old  World.  In  the  better  grades  of  cotton  goods,  brands  like 
Wamsutta  and  New  York  Mills,  we  are  underselling  the  British  in 
their  own  markets.  It  may  be  said  that  the  cost  of  British  labor, 
approximating  that  of  ours  in  cotton  mills,  is  not  a  very  striking 
illustration,  and  that  Continental  labor  being  so  much  cheaper  will 
be  more  difficult  to  deal  with.  To  this  the  answer  is,  that  it  is 
just  this  low-priced  Continental  labor  which  is  guarding  itself  by 
tariff  taxation  against  the  products  of  high-[)riced  British  and 
American  labor.  Before  the  German  tariff  on  cotton  goods  was 
raised  in  1879,  American  shirtings  were  exported  to  Germany. 
This,  in  the  teeth  of  a  low  rate  of  wages,  and  a  much  longer  day 
of  toil,  and  a  lesser  restriction  in  the  employment  of  children  than 
in  Great  Britain  or  America  up  to  recent  times,  when  by  a  system 
of  more  rigid  factory  legislation  the  employment  of  children 
under  twelve  years  in  factories  was  j^rohibited.  The  keen  eye  of 
trade,  governed  by  facts  and  prices,  had  been  making  use  of  these 
chances  long  before  the  State  Department  entered  into  the  busi- 
ness of  reporting  things  which  were  known,  and  of  not  reporting 
things  which  were  little  known,  but  very  desirable  to  know.  How 
could  it  be  expected  of  our  prejudiced  patriarchs  of  the  old 
regime,  of  the  Bourbons  of  ]:)rotection,  in  the  State  or  Treasury 
Department,  to  understand  that  the  result  of  low  wages  can  be 
any  thing  else  but  cheap  goods  and  a  consequent  flooding  of  our 
country  with  these  pauper  fabrics,  and  the  only  remedy  a  new 
addition  of  taxes  ?  How  could  they  be  expected  to  understand 
that  the  result  of  high  wages  and  of  a  high  standard  of  living  niight 
be  cheap  goods  and  a  threatening  danger  to  countries  of  a  low 
standard  of  living  and  correspondingly  low  wages  ?  This  is  so 
beyond  all  theories  of  the  very  respectable  and  learned  doctors 
and  text-book  writers  that  it  could   not   possibly  be   true,  if,  alas. 


the  farts  did  not  all  point  that  way.  Now,  I  know  well  enough 
that  facts  not  in  keeping  with  the  theories  handed  down  by 
venerable  authority  are  no  facts  which  a  good  and  true  disciple 
of  the  orthodox  school  need  believe  in.  I  shall  therefore  bring 
some  very  positive  proofs  and  official  figures,  collected  by  the  best 
and  most  reliable  authorities.  They  may  not  be  absolutely 
correct  in  all  cases,  but  they  are  the  best  that  can  be  had.  They 
are  collected  by  official  bureaus,  which  fact  ought  to  be  conclu- 
sively convincing  to  protectionist  readers  at  least.' 

The  rates  of  weekly  wages  in  cotton  factories  stand  about  as 
follows  in  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  and  Germany  for  iS8o 
and  1881  : 


Massachusetts. 
60  hours. 


Great  Britain. 
56  hours. 


Germany. 
66  to  78  hours. 


Men 

Women 
Lads     . 


$6.67  to  $10.09 
4. 38  to  4.90 
2.79  to       2.97 


$5.28  to  $8.40 
3.90  to  4  56 
2.16  to     3.04 


$2.38  to  $4.09 
2.14  to     2.38 


These  rates  would  indicate,  if  taken  by  themselves,  the  utter 
hopelessness  of  English  competition  with  German  cheap  labor, 
and  of  our  competition  with  either.     But  the  reverse  is  the  case. 

On  the  one  hand,  we  have  a  descending  rate  of  wages  in  the 
ratio  indicated  above,  and  on  the  other  hand,  prices  of  goods  in 
an  inverted  proportion  to  the  smaller  pay  of  the  working  people 
of  the  different  nations  compared.  I  have  pointed  out  these 
seeming  contradictions  in  "  Destructive  Influence  of  the  Tariff" 
and  "Wages  and  Trade  "  (G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons).  But  assuming 
the  true  theory  of  wages  to  be  this  :  i.  "  That  the  standard  of 
living  of  the  working  classes  determines  the  rate  of  wages  ;  and, 
2.  "That  where  the  standard  of  living  is  highest,  productive 
power  and  invention  find  highest  development,  and  production  is 
cheapest,"  this  seeming  paradox  offered  above  finds  easy  expla- 
nation. To  be  able  to  bring  positive  proof  for  what  might  other- 
wise be  called  fantastic  reasoning,  I  requested  a  friend  in  Germany 

'  I  am  not  at  all  a  thorough  believer  in  the  infallibility  of  the  official  fabrics 
called  Malistical  reports,  but  I  have  verified  by  comparison  wherever  there  was 
room  for  doubt.  Cogilo,  dubito,  ergo  sum  is  good  doctrine  in  all  that  aims  at 
human  progress. 


to  send  me  a  collection  of  samples  of  German  cotton  fabrics,  with 
lowest  price  quotations.  I  received  them  a  short  time  ago. 
They  are  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  best-reputed  cotton  mills 
of  Southern  Germany  (Mechanische  BaumwoU-Spinnerei  und 
Weberei,  Ettlingen,  Baden).  They  are  well-known  brands  to  me. 
Some  thirty  years  ago,  when  an  apprentice,  I  had  to  handle  them 
so  frequently  that  the  numbers  and  qualities  impressed  themselves 
sufficiently  upon  my  mind.  The  prices  are  somewhat  higher  than 
they  were  then.  The  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
industry  here  and  in  Great  Britain  seemed  hardly  to  have  affected 
the  Continent. 

Comparing  these  samples  with  our  own  goods  of  like  quality 
and  finish,  and  reducing  metre,  width  and  length,  to  our  inches 
and  yard  measure,  and  German  money  to  American  money,  I 
found  them  to  be  about  twenty  per  cent,  higher  than  our  own 
cotton  goods,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  list  of  prices  of  corre- 
sponding American  fabrics.  (Both  lines  of  prices  reduced  to  net 
cash.) 


White  Muslin. 


30  in 

33  " 

32  " 

36  " 

36  " 

36  " 

36  " 

36  •• 


26 
26 
36 
36 


Cents  per  Yard. 


American. 


N.  Y.  Liberty    .     .     .     . 
Gold  Medal        .     .     .     . 

Hill 

Barker  Mills     .       .     .     . 
Langdon  G.  B.       .      .     . 

Wamsutta 

I'lide  of  the  West        .      . 

^  Shrunk        

Dwight  Anchor 

Colored  Linings. 

Glazed  Cambrics    . 

Cambrics 

Silesia 

"      finer       .     .     .     . 


German. 


6.20 
7.00 
7.10 

8.15 
9.90 

11.75 

12  00 

9.00 

10.50 


4-25 

5.60 

8.50 

10.00 


If  any  thing,  I  found  our  goods  purer  and  better,  having  more 
good  cotton  to  the  pound  than  the  Ettlingen  goods  under  com- 
parison. 

In  close  connection  with  this  I  will  point  to  the  fact  that  in 


1S78  some  of  the  most  advanced  cotton  manufacturers  of  Markt- 
Gladbach  and  neighborhood  (the  Rhenish  Manchester)  made  an 
inquiry  into  the  reasons  why  all  their  cheap  labor  and  extended 
hours  do  not  avail  against  England's  opposite  policy.  They 
found  that  long  hours  are  too  strong  a  strain  upon  the  frame  of 
the  operative,  and  that  shorter  hours  are  economically  the  cheap- 
est. They  formed  an  association  to  reduce  the  daily  working 
hours,  which  at  that  time  yet  extended  to  some  fourteen  hours, 
but  the  movement  went  to  pieces  from  the  opposition  it  met  with 
from  the  majority  of  the  cotton  manufacturers. 

I  found  an  occasion  to  make  a  comparison  of  a  similar  nature 
in  metal  work  lately.  A  German  manufacturer,  formerly  a  resi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  lately  visited  this  country.  His  factory 
works  are  well  situated.  The  communal  lands  and  forests  yield 
such  abundant  revenue  that  they  not  only  are  sufficient  for  pur- 
poses of  taxation,  but  frequently  yield  a  surplus  to  be  divided 
among  the  villagers.  The  women  till  the  small  farms  and  the 
men  work  in  the  factory,  except  at  harvest  time.  Wages  are  low. 
Two  marks  a  day  is  considered  good  pay.  The  works  employ 
five  hundred  hands  and  produce  annually  $200,000  worth  of 
goods.     Yet  when  I  received  from  him  a  statement 

(i)  of  the  value  of  materials  consumed  in  this  production, 

(2)  the  amount  of  wages  paid  for  work,  and 

(3)  the  amount  remaining  to  pay  for  profit  and  expenses, 

I  found  that  the  percentage  allotted  to  each  of  these  three  factors 
is  nearly  the  same  as  in  like  industries  of  our  own.  From  this 
it  appears  that  our  labor,  being  paid  three  or  four  times  as  much, 
must  be  three  or  four  times  as  productive  as  German  labor  in 
order  to  arrive  at  like  results. 

Unless  this  were  so  it  would  be  incomprehensible  that  we  export 
annually  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  million  dollars  in  metal  goods 
to  other  countries,  where  we  have  to  meet  this  foreign  competi- 
tion on  even  grounds,  besides  overcoming  the  higher  cost  of  our 
materials,  whicli  are  tariff-taxed,  while  the  English  at  least  are 
free.  We  are  sending  machinery  and  locomotives  to  Liverpool  to 
be  shipped  from  there  to  Buenos  Ayres,  etc.,  pay  double  freight, 
and  still  undersell  Great  Britain  and  Germany  either  in  quality, 
adaptability,  or  price. 


From  the  foregoing,  it  appears  that  if  all  things  were  equal,  or 
if  the  earnings  of  the  working  classes  alone  were  to  determine 
prices,  wc  should  stand  little  chance  in  the  markets  of  tiie  world. 
But  things  are  not  equal.  They  are  not  equal  in  any  two  coun- 
tries. Nor  do  the  earnings  of  the  working  classes  determine 
prices,  but  the  amount  of  work  which  they  j^roduce  for  a  certain 
amount  of  pay  is  tin;  determining  feature.  It  would  be  very 
interesting  for  us  to  know  what  is  equal  and  what  is  not — why  we 
excel  in  some  of  our  industrial  enterprises,  and  why  we  are  far 
behind  in  others.  It  would  be  of  great  value  to  our  industrial 
classes  to  learn  about  the  modes  of  production,  the  kind  of  power 
employed,  whether  hand  or  steam,  etc.,  and  principally  the  amount 
of  work  turned  out  by  a  competing  industry  for  any  given  amount 
of  pay.  It  would  be  of  interest  to  know  which  industries  are 
remunerated  by  the  piece  and  which  industries  by  the  day,  etc., 
etc.,  or  what  proportion  of  each  system  of  pay  is  borne  by  each 
industry. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  learn  to  what  extent  the  system  of 
domestic  industry  has  made  room  for  the  factory  system — in  what 
branches  the  former  or  the  latter  prevails.  It  would  be  of  interest 
to  learn  what  number  of  hands  is  employed  in  the  different 
countries  to  produce  the  same  amount  of  work,  etc.,  etc. 

We  have  now  an  extended  Consular  Service  at  our  command. 
The  State  Department  is  publishing  reports  from  our  consuls 
at  given  periods,  which  contain  some  very  interesting  reading 
matter,  but  very  little  which  goes  to  the  root  of  these  questions. 
Some  few  years  ago  feeble  attempts  were  made  to  enlighten  the 
public  on  these  very  points.  The  work  on  Cotton  and  Woollen 
Mills  in  Europe,  Commercial  Relations  of  the  United  States,  No. 
23,  1S82,  has  some  reports  which  do  full  justice  to  this  matter. 
The  report  of  the  Consul  at  Manchester,  Mr.  Shaw,  was  as  com- 
plete a  piece  of  reporting  as  could  be  expected  fron  any  one  sim- 
ilarly placed.  The  conclusions  to  be  derived  therefrom,,  however, 
were  so  absolute  a  refutation  of  all  the  then  orthodox  views  of 
American  statesmanship,  that  he  soon  was  persuaded  to-  desist 
from  reporting  things  not  in  keeping  with  the  teachings  of  the 
holy  books  of  the  dominant  creed.  After  this  attempt  we  hear 
no  more  such  dangerous  facts  as  this,  that  so.  far  as  work  and 


8 

wages  were  concerned,  our  operatives  earned  more  mony  (lunn 
Lancashire  operatives,  but  did  considerably  more  work  and  pro- 
duced cheaper  goods  by  the  piece  ;  that  this  advantage  was  lost 
again,  however,  through  the  greater  cost  of  coal,  machinery,  build- 
ing charges,  and  taxes,  etc.  A  subsequent  report  from  the  same 
source  tried  hard  to  overcome  the  impression  produced,  but 
fortunately  this  one  stands,  and  what  is  more,  all  facts  prove  it  to 
be  correct,  and  that  it  is  the  best  piece  of  reporting  that  has  ever 
been  published  by  the  State  Department.  It  shows  what  invalua- 
ble service  our  consular  system  can  be  made  to  yield  to  the  coun- 
try if  in  proper  hands,  properly  directed.  In  the  hands  of  officials 
subservient  to  the  priests  of  the  PennS}lvania  deity  we  shall  not  get 
more  than,  for  instance,  what  our  consuls  in  Germany  produced. 
Some,  like  our  Consul-General  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  extolled 
the  beauty  of  the  protective  system  and  the  great  advantages  ac- 
cruing to  the  empire  by  its  return  from  free  trade  to  protection. 
The  good  man  did  not  icU  us  that  in  manufactured  goods  Germany 
always  had  a  ])rotective  tariff,  and  that  from  1873  to  1S79  free 
trade  had  only  existed  so  far  as  cereals,  provisions,  and  i)ig-iron 
were  concerned.  As  those  were  being  taxed,  a  compensating 
increase  of  duties  on  manufactured  goods  had  to  be  granted.  This 
is  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  the  great  protection  revival  of  which 
so  much  ado  was  made  by  our  consuls. 

That  German  manufacturers  do  not  view  the  new  tariff  with 
the  spirit  which  our  consuls  would  impute  to  them,  is  proven  by 
the  reports  of  the  German  Chambers  of  Commerce.  The  manu- 
facturers consider  a  tax  upon  their  materials  and  upon  the  food  of 
their  operatives  a  burden,  and  look  with  dismay  upon  any  threat- 
ened increase. 

By  other  representatives  of  our  consular  service  in  Germany, 
the  revival  of  trade  coincident  with  the  inauguration  of  the  new 
tariff  law  was  made  use  of  as  an  illustration  of  the  invigorating 
force  of  a  protective  tariff.  This  is  in  the  line  of  our  home  argu- 
ment, which  refers  all  the  ills  and  woes  arising  from  business  stag- 
nation, panic,  etc.,  of  1884  to  the  change  (a  reduction  of  an 
average  of  i  per  cent.)  of  the  tariff  in  1883.  The  consuls  never 
mention  the  fact  that  German  manufacturing  industries  were 
never  more  flourishing  than  from   1872  to  1875-6,  the  time  of  the 


creniion  and  rule  of  the  same  free-trade  tariff  which  (in  the  eyes 
of  our  consuls)  had  to  do  service  as  a  destroyer  from  1876  to 
1879. 

What  we  want  to  learn  is  nothing  but  the  truth,  the  whole  truth, 
however.  For  this  men  are  required  who  are  capable  of  seeing 
the  truth,  and  seeing  the  whole  truth.  To  see  the  truth  in  eco- 
nomic matters  presupposes  the  training  for  the  subject,  an  open  eye, 
and  an  open  head.  There  is  a  great  gap  to  be  filled  yet.  Neither 
the  government  nor  the  press  have  so  far  supplied  a  want  which 
is  daily  more  keenly  felt  by  all  thinking  men.  I  refer  to  the  em- 
ployingof  the  honest,  unbiassed,  fact  man.  Government  statistics, 
government  research,  have  so  far  been  influenced  too  much  by 
political  or  worse  considerations.  The  newspaper  office,  the 
editor's  chair,  is  an  adjunct  of  the  counting-room.  The  true 
and  great  facts  which  underlie  the  creation  of  prices  and  condi- 
tions of  product  and  production,  of  distribution  and  consumption, 
are  either  touched  upon  in  a  meaningless  or  misleading  manner, 
or  are  left  outside  the  scope  of  inquiry. 

Government  might  be  expected  to  supply  this  great  want  in  an 
age  when  the  humblest  individual  is  as  eager  for  the  news  of  the 
day  as  only  the  man  of  leisure  was  a  generation  ago.  The  thirst 
for  information  is  second  only  to  that  for  food  and  drink.  Eco- 
nomic data,  especially  of  an  unerring  kind,  are  looked  for  with 
growing  interest.  The  importance  of  publicity  as  a  corrective  to 
evils  arising  in  the  body  politic,  in  the  social  organism,  in  the 
world  of  trade,  manufacture,  and  commerce,  is  recognized  by  all. 
It  is  admitted  that  fullest  publicity  of  corporate  management  is 
about  the  only  remedy  which,  under  our  present  development,  we 
can  apply  to  the  many  crying  abuses  which  have  been  practised 
upon  us.  To-day  the  railroads  of  Massachusetts  are  those  managed 
with  the  nearest  approach  to  honesty  to  its  stockholders  and  fair- 
ness to  the  public,  mainly  by  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  law  gov- 
erning the  publication  of  accounts  ;  a  clear  proof  of  the  impor- 
tance of  publicity  given  to  facts  relating  to  the  movements  of  great 
interests.  The  greatest  interest  which  man  has  in  any  thing  of 
this  world,  however,  is  that  centring  in  his  own  immediate  means 
of  existence.  These  are  prominently  dealt  with  as  subject  of 
this  treatise.     Nothing  can  be  of  more  interest  to  workingman  or 


lO 


capitalist,  employer  or  employe,  than  a  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
under  which  foreign  countries,  with  whose  labor  products  we  come 
in  daily  contact,  perform  their  work.  In  this  we  might  have  ex- 
pected the  fullest  aid  and  information  from  our  foreign  oflfice. 
But  alas,  what  we  gleaned  from  the  pages  published  in  monthly 
volumes  was  not  of  that  nature.  Of  course  for  such  work  a  staff  of 
competent  men  is  required.  Whether  the  spoils  system  was  able  to 
supi)ly  this  kind  of  men  may  be  questioned.  That  this  class  of 
men  must  be  selected  to  fill  the  principal  consulates,  cannot  admit 
of  any  doubt  in  view  of  the  immense  pressure  of  the  commercial 
and  industrial  situation.  That  the  services  of  men  of  the  kind, 
that  could  and  would  do  justice  to  these  requirements,  could  not 
be  secured  so  long  as  the  iron  and  wool  combination  directed  the 
helm,  needs  no  demonstration.  To  what  extent  the  ruling  powers 
were  guilty  in  spoiling  even  good  material  is  attested  by  a  United 
States  Senator,  who  writes  to  me  from  Washington  : 

"  1  am  glad  you  are  going  to  write  up  our  consular  system.  I 
have  information,  which  I  regard  as  positive,  that  our  consuls  do 
not  regard  their  places  as  safe  unless  they  send  reports  such  as 
will  please  the  '  protection  element '  at  home,  and  I  have  seen  let- 
ters from  some  of  them  showing  how  the  most  valuable  parts  of 
their  reports  were  cut  out  after  they  reached  this  country,  which 
facts  I  intended  to  lay  before  the  Senate  before  the  close  of 
the  last  session,  but  was  prevented  from  doing  so  by  other  Sena- 
tors, friends  of  these  consuls,  to  whom  the  letters  were  written,  as 
they  would  lose  their  places  if  the  truth  were  told. 

"  The  consular  reports  for  the  last  two  years,  at  least,  have 
become  mere  partisan  presentations  of  the  virtue  of  protection." 

The  immeasurable  benefits  which  might  be  derived  from  a  prop- 
erly organized  and  directed  reporting  agency  are  so  pronounced 
that  little  need  be  said  in  its  favor.  But  good  reporting  can  only 
be  obtained  from  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  subject  to  be  reported 
on.  The  best  results  can  be  guaranteed  if  done  through  properly 
organized  government  channels,  as  government  can  at  all  times 
command  good  services,  provided  work  is  not  required  which 
militates  against  the  self-respect  of  those  intrusted  with  it.  To 
suppress  truth,  to  state  half  truths,  to  color  facts  so  as  to  please 
superiors  in  office,  is  not  work  that  ought  to  be  asked  of  the 
officers  of  the  republic. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    VIEWS   ENTERTAINED    AT    HIGH   QUARTERS    COMPARED    WITH 

THE     REAL     FACTS LOW    WAGES     AND     LOW      LIVING      GOING 

HAND    IN    HAND    WITH    LOW    PRODUCTIVENESS. 

The  letter  from  the  late  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Frelinghuysen, 
on  "  Labor  in  Europe  "  recently  published,  has  brouc;ht  out  at  last 
in  full  the  wage  statistics  of  foreign  countries,  on  which  the  pro- 
tectionists had  been  feeding  the  public  for  so  long  a  time.  The  Re- 
publican Campaign  Committees  during  the  fall  of  1S84  made  the 
freest  use  of  these  statistics  of  labor,  supplied  by  our  consular  ser- 
vice, for  political  purposes  in  the  most  misleading  manner.  We  all 
remember  the  handbills  and  cards  scattered  broadcast  all  over  the 
country.  True  as  far  as  the  statistics  of  the  earnings  of  laborers  in 
foreign  countries  went,  the  inferences  and  explanations  drawn  from 
them  were  the  reverse  of  what  the  figures  really  represented.  I 
called  attention  at  that  time  to  the  fact  that  things  were  fully  as  bad 
as  stated  ;  with  the  proviso,  however,  that  they  were  worse  where 
the  protective  policy  had  the  fullest  sway,  as  in  Germany,  while  in 
free-trade  England,  as  by  the  showing  of  these  very  campaign  re- 
ports, wages  were  nearly  double  those  of  Germany. 

The  letter  from  the  Secretary  throws  a  great  deal  of  additional 
light  upon  the  subject,  so  far  as  statistical  facts  are  concerned. 
The  letter  speaks  of  the  especially  abject  condition  of  labor  in  the 
Taunus  and  Spessart  mountains,  in  Silesia  and  Thuringia,  where 
the  house-industries  are  still  clung  to  with  a  tenacity  of  which  only 
the  very  low  standard  of  living  and  wages  can  give  adequate  ex- 
planation. In  "  Destructive  Influence  of  the  Tariff,"  and  "  Wages 
and  Trade,"  I  spoke  of  those  poor  toilers,  a  description  of  whose 
destitution  and  poverty  and  mode  of  living  would  hardly  find  be- 
lief among  American  readers.  I  feared  then  I  might  be  suspected 
of  exaggeration.  I  dwelt  as  little  on  these  facts  as  possible.  It  will 
always  remain  an  unpleasant  piece  of  work  to  draw  the  curtain 

II 


12 


from  the  dark  misery  of  the  social  problem.  The  true  historian 
of  his  time,  however,  has  no  alternative  left  but  to  state  facts. 
That  my  facts  were  not  overdrawn  is  now  proved  by  the  State 
Department  in  this  recent  publication.  Factory  labor  is  better 
remunerated  than  tlie  labor  in  the  house-industries.  With  what 
doggedness,  however,  the  working  classes  cling  to  the  latter  system 
and  the  quasi-independence  and  higher  social  position  guaran- 
teed thereby,  is  shown  by  house-industries  of  Rhenish  Prussia  and 
Westphalia,  Thuringia,  Silesia,  etc. 

Alphons  Thun,  in  a  work  published  in  1879  ("  Die  Industrie  am 
Niederrhein  "),  gave  some  very  interesting  information  on  the  con- 
ditions of  work  and  the  system  of  labor  prevailing  at  that  time  in 
the  Lower-Rhine  country  of  Germany.  I  was  surprised  at  the 
extent  to  which  the  domestic  system  was  still  prevailing  in  this 
most  advanced  industrial  part  of  Germany.  In  the  metal  indus- 
tries of  Solingen,  Iserlohn,  Remscheidt,  etc.,  forging,  grinding  and 
finishing  were  nearly  all  done  by  different  small  masters,  who  take 
the  work  from  the  "  manufacturer  "  and  bring  it  back  after  each 
stage  to  give  it  to  the  following  procedure.  The  "manufacturer" 
gets  his  samples  from  the  master  and  takes  orders  wherever  he 
can  find  them.  The  consequence  is  a  system  of  under-bidding 
for  the  markets  which  presses  hard  upon  the  master,  who  again 
tries  to  get  even  by  returning  slighted  or  inferior  work.  Complaint 
is  made  of  needles  having  no  eyes,  of  clasp  knives  without  blades 
or  with  blades  which  don't  move,  being  shipped  to  foreign  coun- 
tries. The  truck  system,  which  existed  up  to  1849  in  its  most 
disgusting  and  repelling  form,  being  prohibited,  there  is  still  a  mild 
type  of  it  virulent  now.  Usually  a  cousin  or  a  relative  of  the 
manufacturer  occupies  the  position  of  examiner  of  work  returned 
by  the  workman  and  likewise  that  of  a  storekeeper.  It  depends 
on  the  amount  of  goods  taken  in  lieu  of  wages  whether  the  work  is 
criticised  more  or  less  severely  or  perhaps  rejected  altogether. 

In  Crefeld,  the  centre  of  the  German  silk  industry,  the  same  sys- 
tem of  industrial  subdivision  prevails — the  conditioner,  the  weaver, 
the  dyer,  the  finisher,  "  the  manufacturer."  Far  back  into  the  coun- 
try the  silks  go  out  to  the  handloom-weaver,  who,  with  his  whole 
family,  in  busy  times,  is  at  work  from  early  morning  to  late  at 
night,  weaving  the  flimsy  thread  into  all  sorts  of  stuffs.     When 


13 

work  is  plentiful,  wages  and  earnings  and  living  are  high.  From 
all  sides  and  occupations  hands  are  drawn  in  to  learn  the  trade, 
and  to  be  workers  and  earners  after  a  few  weeks  of  apprentice- 
ship. Then  the  weavers  accept  good  material  only  for  the  chain  ; 
they  are  independent  and  dictate  their  own  terms.  But  depres- 
sion shows  at  once  the  very  reverse,  and  makes  suffering  the  more 
intense,  as  good  earnings  in  the  house-industries  are  apt  to  tend 
to  increased  families,  whose  members  are  very  early  helpers,  but 
very  undesirable  inmates  in  hard  times.  Their  stomachs  have  to 
be  filled,  work  or  no  work.  Now,  the  manufacturers  pay  reduced 
wages — when  there  is  work.  Then  the  whole  family  go  eagerly 
about  in  their  emaciated  condition  to  finish  the  work,  to  obtain 
the  scanty  earnings  to  buy  bread.  The  "  manufacturer,"  how- 
ever, is  exacting  now,  though  he  supplies  inferior  material.  By 
greater  skill  and  harder  and  better  work  the  master  has  to  over- 
come and  improve  its  conditions.  We  hear  then  of  cases  of  de- 
ductions and  exactions  which  would  furnish  material  for  a 
counterpart  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  I  read  of  a  case  in  Viersen, 
1877,  where  a  velvet  weaver  had  died  still  in  debt  to  the  manufac- 
turer for  an  advance  on  his  loom.  The  widow,  who  had  just 
recovered  from  a  confinement,  finished  the  piece  of  velvet,  and  on 
returning  the  same  had  the  full  amount  of  the  debt  deducted 
from  her  pay  and  was  dismissed  with  just  four  German  pence, 
about  one  cent  in  our  money  ;  four  hungry  children  were  awaiting 
her  return. 

Now  1878  is  a  great  distance  from  1885  in  this  time  of  rapid 
changes  of  industrial  development,  and  I  had  thought  that  the 
factory  system  to  some  extent  might  have  supplanted  the  domestic 
system.  But  we  find  in  the  report  of  Consul  Potter,  of  Crefeld, 
published  in  tlie  Secretary's  letter,  that  ninety  per  cent,  of  all  the 
silks  and  silk  goods  made  in  Crefeld  are  made  on  hand-looms  in 
the  homes  of  the  weavers. 

The  report  goes  on  to  say  :  "  This  is  called  '  home  industry,' 
and  its  continued  existence  is  threatened  by  the  gradual  introduc- 
tion of  i)ower-looms,  and,  of  course,  factory  centralization.  Al- 
though the  hand-weavers  of  Crefeld  are  only  enabled  to  maintain 
existence  by  long  hours  and  unremitting  toil,  they  will  fight  for 
their  '  house-industry  '  to  the  bitter  end,  the  decrease  of  wages 


14 

and  its  attendant  poverty  consequent  upon  the  encroachment  of 
the  factory  system  making  the  fight  all  the  more  bitter." 

Then  it  goes  on  describing  the  idyllic  beauty  and  simplicity  of 
the  weaver's  home-life.  But  I  pass  this  by,  and  will  only  point 
out  that  we  have  here  for  the  first  time  an  intimation  by  a  consul 
that  there  may  be  differences  of  working  methods  which  may 
make  a  vast  difference  in  the  result.  Of  course  he  does  not  say 
that  we  may  be  the  gainers  in  the  comparison,  but  he  points  to 
facts  at  least  which  ought  to  have  been  brought  to  light  long  ago 
by  our  authorities. 

In  the  whole  mass  of  information  brought  out  by  the  State  De- 
partment, we  find  only  one  sentence  which  is  an  intelligent  ex- 
planation of  cause  and  effect.  Mr.  Consul  Smith,  of  Mayence, 
states  :  "  In  Germany  less  is  expected  of  the  workingman  ;  less  is 
paid  for,  and  consequently  less  is  rendered.  Conditions  there  are 
more  fixed,  and  the  demand  for  promptness  of  execution  not  so 
imperative." 

This  seems  to  cover  the  problem  so  far  as  Germany  is  con- 
cerned, and  is  a  fitting  answer  to  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Secretary 
Frelinghuysen  in  the  concluding  pages  of  his  letter.  He  says  : 
"  It  would  be  a  legitimate  field  of  inquiry  to  ascertain  what  are 
the  conditions  which  enable  England  to  manufacture  machinery 
and  other  products  at  less  price  than  similar  goods  can  be  manu- 
factured  in  France,  and  at  prices  equal  to  those  in  Germany, 
while  the  rates  of  wages  paid  to  the  workmen  engaged  in  those 
manufactories  in  England  are  on  the  whole  higher  than  those  paid 
for  similar  labor  in  France,  and,  as  the  foregoing  table  shows, 
more  than  double  those  paid  in  Germany."  And,  I  may  add 
here,  America,  paying  higher  wages  than  England,  is  excelling 
them  all  in  cheapness  wherever  she  has  an  even  chance  to  meet 
foreign  competition. 

The  answer  is  not  very  difficult.  Man  is  above  all  an  organic 
being.  From  childhood  to  the  grave  he  does  battle  for  his  ex- 
istence. Every  breath  of  air,  every  motion  of  the  muscles,  is  a 
waste  of  tissue.  His  food  is  only  so  much  matter  added  to  his 
system  necessary  to  re-create  what  is  constantly  subjected  to  dis- 
integration. It  is  the  fuel  necessary  in  creating  the  working 
power  which  we  see  turned  into  labor  and  production.     A  half- 


15 

fed  or  under-fed  body  can  no  more  produce  full  results  than  an 
engine  not  sufficiently  supplied  with  fuel  or  a  horse  half  starved. 
If  we  applied  the  same  rules  to  the  labor  (juestion,  which  no  one 
in  his  right  senses  would  disregard,  in  these  two  other  categories, 
we  should  meet  with  less  crudeness  in  the  treatment  of  the  wlujle 
subject. 

An  Englishman  eats  more  and  better  food  than  a  German,  and 
he  does  more  and  better  work  than  a  (lerman.  An  American  eats 
more  and  better  food  than  a  German  or  an  Englishman,  and  he 
does  more  and  better  work  than  a  German,  Frenchman,  or 
Englishman. 

I  will  give  the  bill  of  fare  of  a  family  of  three  in  a  village  in  the 
Taunus,  near  Frankfort-on-Main,  as  witnessed  by  the  author  of 
"  Fiinf  Dorfgemeinden  auf  dem  hohen  Taunus"  (Five  Village  Com- 
munities on  the  High  Taunus)  during  his  stay  of  three  days  with 
that  family. 

Saturday  :  Breakfast,  coffee  and  bread  with  jam  ;  dinner,  po- 
tatoes and  coffee  ;  afternoon,  coffee  and  bread  with  jam  ;  supper, 
potato-cake  and  coffee. 

Sunday  :  Breakfast,  same  as  above  ;  dinner,  rice  soup  with 
potatoes  and  one  pound  of  soup  meat  ;  afternoon,  bread  with  jam  ; 
supper,  potato-cake  and  coffee. 

Monday  :  Breakfast,  same  ;  forenoon,  bread  and  cheese  ;  din- 
ner, potato  soup  and  bread  ;  suppe'r,  potatoes  and  coffee. 

I  find  full  corroboration  of  this  by  many  authors  as  the  rule  in 
other  districts,  and — no  wonder — the  small  earnings  would  hardly 
permit  of  more  sumptuous  feeding. 

This  under-fed,  half-starved  German  labor  is  frequently  found 
to  produce  the  saddest  results.  We  fmd  scrofula  and  hunger 
diseases  to  an  alarming  extent.  In  the  Taunus  villages  and  other 
districts  alluded  to,  few  young  men  are  found  strong  enough  for 
the  army.  Italians  are  employed  for  the  harder  work  of  road- 
building,  they  being  found  stronger.  The  descendants  of  the 
conquerors  of  Rome,  of  the  giants  whose  very  apjjearance  made 
Rome  tremble,  have  become  so  weakened  through  hereditary 
anaemia,  caused  by  poor  feeding,  that  for  work  recjuiring  muscular 
exertion  they  must  have  recourse  to  the  descendants  of  their 
ancient  foes,  who  were  a  byword  of  weakness  to  their  forefathers. 


i6 

Science  has  endeavored  to  remove  the  question  from  the  hazy 
region  of  conjectural  guesswork.  It  has  been  proven  that  ex- 
cessive hours  and  insufficient  nutrition  are  not  alone  a  hindrance 
to  immediate  good  results,  but  do  infinite  harm  of  a  lasting  na- 
ture, in  that  they  sap  the  best  forces  of  the  body.  Dr.  Jaeger, 
"Die  Menschliche  Arbeitskraft,"  says:  "'So  long  as  there  is  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  oxidizable  matter  (fats  and  sugar)  in  the 
body,  the  albumen  in  the  substance  does  not  suffer  from  exertion. 
But  as  soon  as  the  former  is  consumed,  the  albumen  is  attacked 
by  oxygen  to  the  detriment  of  the  living  substance,  whose  struc- 
ture is  thereby  impaired.  Upon  this  rests  the  damaging  influence 
of  over-exertion  coupled  with  under-feeding."  "  The  greater," 
he  says  in  another  place,  "  the  quantity  of  albumen  in  the  muscle, 
the  greater  its  excitability  in  a  physiological  sense  and  its  elas- 
ticity, the  greater  its  power  of  endurance,  the  higher  its  natural 
capacity  and  rapidity  of  working  power."  "  Only  if  there  is  a 
sufficiency  of  recuperation  can  working  and  vital  power  be  main- 
tained" (Dr.  Heinrich  Frankel,  'The  Daily  Working  Time'). 
Roscher,  Lujo  Brentano,  and  others  might  be  quoted.  Roscher 
says ;  "Antiquity  has  very  correctly  pictured  Heracles,  the 
greatest  \vorker,  also  as  an  extraordinary  feeder."  Lujo  Brentano 
says  :  "  A  steady  increase  of  the  wants  of  the  workingmen,  aside 
from  all  other  beneficial  results,  is  the  safest  guaranty  of  an  in- 
crease of  their  productive  capacity." 

Few,  who  have  given  close  study  to  this  subject,  will  deny  that 
Germany's  low  wages  and  low  standard  of  living,  coupled  with 
excessive  hours,  are  a  drawback,  and  not  an  advantage  to  her  in- 
dustrial development.  Germany  has  not  yet  regained  the  position 
which  she  occujjied  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Neither  her  indus- 
trial position  nor  the  general  well-being  of  her  working  classes  is 
now  what  it  was  then.  Great  national  calamities  have  wrought 
her  ruin.  She  is  manfully  battling  upwards.  But  the  way  to  re- 
gain lost  position  is  not  through  taxation  and  low  wages.  We 
may  admire  the  plodding  patience,  the  deep  sense  of  duty,  the 
courageous  endurance  of  her  working  classes,  and  may  draw 
many  a  fruitful  lesson  ;  but  let  us  be  watchful  agai-nst  the  heresy 
that  low  wages  mean  cheap  production. 

In  the  following  pages  I  shall  endeavor  to  prove,  as  fully  as  pos- 


17 

sible  with  the  present  means  of  statistical  inquiry,  that  countries 
whose  productiveness  of  labor  has  attained  the  highest  potency,  are 
those  whose  earnings  and  wages  are  liighest  ;  and  that,  inversely,  low 
wages  and  low  productiveness  go  liand  in  hand.  I  shall,  to  this  end, 
treat  the  great  branches  of  national  industry  separately,  and  re- 
view the  same  as  they  appear  under  the  working  methods  of  com- 
peting nations.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  views  formerly  expressed 
on  the  situation  by  our  consuls  to  the  State  Department,  were 
widely  divergent  from  the  stern  facts  of  reality.  In  truth,  by  the 
misconception  of  the  true  state,  the  service  adds  to  the  difficulties 
of  our  position  by  fortifying  the  perverted  notions  of  our  law- 
makers with  apparently  logical  support,  which,  if  scrutinized, 
would  prove  the  reverse  of  what  the  consuls  attempted  to  convey. 


CHAPTER   III. 


COTTON     GOODS, 


In  "  Wages  and  Trade"  I  brought  out  a  table  of  the  raw  ma- 
terials consuined  in  the  textile  industries  of  the  United  States,  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  Germany,  and  of  the  number  of  hands 
employed  in  each  industry  in  each  of  these  countries.  A  division 
of  the  amounts  consumed  by  the  number  of  hands  employed 
gave  these  results  : 

PRODUCTIVE    CAPACITY   OF   ONE    OPERATIVE    IN   THE    UNITED    STATES,    GREAT 
BRITAIN,  AND  GERMANY,  TAKING  lOO  AS  THE  UNIT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Cotton. 

Wool. 

Silk. 

United  States        .... 
United  Kingdom  .... 
Germany       ..... 

lbs. 

lOO 

67 

27* 

lbs. 
100 

77 
60 

lbs. 
100 

68 

The  tables  were  reprinted  by  the  London  Times,  and  from 
there  found  reprint  in  the  press  of  the  United  States  and 
Germany. 

Statistics  of  this  kind,  however,  need  some  explanation. 

The  average  reader  is  apt  to  take  them  without  questioning  their 
meaning.  To  the  economist  they  mean,  that  in  wool,  100  lbs.  in 
America  may  be  an  entirely  different  thing  from  100  lbs.  in  Ger- 
many or  England.  The  same  quantity  may  be  counted  in  a 
condition  not  yielding  by  a  good  deal  what  it  yields  in  other 
countries,  as  is  the  case  in  American  wools.  In  silks  a  similar 
objection  may  be  raised  against  my  method  of  testing  national  pro- 
ductiveness by  a  division  of  the  number  of  operatives  employed  in 
the  industry  with  the  pounds  of  raw  silk  entering  into  consumption. 
The  pound  of  silk  may  be  used  in  costly  fabrics,  consuming  much 
time  in  their  production,  while  other  silks  may  be  used  for  plain 

iS 


19 

work  entailing  far  less  labor,  consequently  allowing  more  silk  to 
be  handled  by  the  same  number  of  operatives  in  a  given  time. 
None  of  these  objections  however  can  be  raised  so  far  as  the 
cotton  industry  is  concerned,  or  certainly  only  to  a  very  liniit<  d 
extent.      , 

The  gross  statement  above,  of  course,  shows  in  a  very  striking 
manner  the  superiority  of  American  work  and  organization.  'l"he 
low  productiveness  of  German  mill-hands  compared  to  American 
work,  as  illustrated  above,  would  be  difficult  to  believe,  if  we  had 
no  other  proofs.  In  a  report  on  the  spinners  and  weavers  at 
Ettlingen  by  the  consul  at  Mannheim,  of  which  I  spoke  in  a  for- 
mer letter,  we  find  i,ioo  persons  employed  on  the  premises. 
Had  the  consul  stated  the  amount  of  raw  cotton  consumed,  we 
could  have  computed  the  productiveness  of  the  help.  We  might 
have  had  an  explanation  why  the  average  weekly  earnings  of  a 
mill-hand  are  not  more  than  $2.16  ($2,380  is  given  as  the  pay-roll). 
Standing  by  itself  the  statement  leaves  the  impression  that  pauper 
labor  at  %z  a  week  is  a  dangerous  competitor  against  New  Eng- 
land labor  at  the  average  of  $5  a  week,  as  in  the  census  year. 
But,  judging  from  the  size  of  the  mill  as  known  to  me,  I  do  not 
think  that  an  American  mill  of  the  same  extent  would  use  one 
half  of  that  number  of  people  and  would  turn  out  more  goods 
into  the  bargain.  The  great  number  of  people  employed  in  the 
cotton  industry  of  Germany  is  rather  startling  in  its  meagre  results 
when  brought  in  comparison  with  the  great  output  of  American 
cotton  mills. 

Germany's  consumption  of  raw  cotton  is  about  300,000,000  lbs., 
with  250,000  people  returned  as  employed  in  specific  cotton  in- 
dustries, while  America's  consumption  in  specific  cotton  industries 
is  750,000,000  lbs.,  with  only  172,000  workers. 

Cotton,  as  said  before,  is  an  especially  suitable  field,  as  this  is 
the  only  industry  in  which  the  nature  of  the  stock  is  not  materially 
different  in  either  country,  as  might  be  the  case  in  silk  or  wool, 
and  as  factory  labor  is  the  labor  chiefly  employed  in  it  by  all 
manufacturing  countries,  Germany,  however,  still  has  a  very 
large  number  of  small  establishments  in  the  cotton  industry  em- 
ploying under  five  hands.  These  are  counted  in  in  the  grand  total 
and    somewhat    modify   the   above  given  result.     In  1S75   there 


20 


were  1,597  spinning  establishments  employing  66,675  hands  ;  of 
these,  however,  there  were  1,079  establishments  employing  only 
1,477  hands,  while  518  factories  employed  65,198  hands.  In 
weaving,  1,108  factories  employed  70,437  hands,  while  there  were 
besides  96,480  establishments  returned  with  133,052  hands.  The 
consumption  of  cotton  was  at  that  time  not  more  than  250,000,000 
lbs.,  and  if  we  take  the  135,635  persons  employed  in  factories 
alone  as  engaged  in  the  work  of  turning  into  cloth  and  yarn  the 
entire  250,000,000  (not  counting  at  all  any  share  in  the  turning 
process  of  this  raw  material  which  the  134,529  persons  engaged 
in  house  industries  might  have  in  it),  the  productive  capacity  of 
German  mill-hands  in  the  cotton  factories  would  not  exceed  1,800 
lbs.,  against  4,350  lbs.,  as  the  yield  of  American  factory  opera-, 
tives.  In  neither  of  these  statements  have  I  included  any  hands 
engaged  in  dyeing,  finishing,  knitting  in  hosiery  or  other  small 
cotton  industries,  but  simply  those  engaged  in  the  specific  cotton 
industry. 

Comparing  Germany's  productiveness  with  that  of  Massachu- 
setts in  specific  cotton  industry  by  the  number  of  spindles  and 
looms  and  the  number  of  hands  employed  in  operating  them,  we 
get  the  following  results  : 


No.  of 

spindles. 

000  omitted 


No.  of 

looms. 

000  omitted 


No.  of 

hands. 

000  omitted 


No.  of 

spindles 
to  100  hands 


No.  of 
looms  to 
100  hands 


Germany     . 
Massachusetts 


4,700 
4,200 


84 
95 


136 
61.8 


2,740 
6,763 


62 
153 


According  to  this,  100  operatives  operate  fully  two  and  one  half 
times  as  many  looms  and  spindles  in  Massachusetts  as  in 
Germany,  and  this  showing  corresponds  accurately  with  the  rela- 
tive proportion  of  ])ounds  as  given  above — viz.,  1,800  lbs.  meas- 
uring the  productive  capacity  of  a  German  mill-hand,  and  4,350 
lbs.  that  of  an  American. 

To  our  capacity  of  competing  favorably  with  England,  I  have 
refered  in  Chapter  I.  As  to  France,  she  fortifies  herself  by 
discriminating  duties  against  our  cotton  manufactures, — a  for- 
midable proof  of  her  incapacity  to  combat  our  staples  on  even 
terms. 


21 

For  our  comparison,  however,  the  exhibit  of  Germany  is  fully 
sufificienl.  It  is  a  convincing  demonstration  of  tlie  working 
capacity  of  the  two  kinds  of  labor  :  that  of  the  United  States, 
representing  the  best-paid  labor;  and  that  of  Germany,  represent- 
ing, under  like  working  methods,  and  considering  the  necessities 
of  civilized  life,  the  poorest-paid  labor  in  Europe. 

And  yet  with  all  these  facts  before  us,  of  course  never  clearly 
brought  out,  the  late  Secretary  of  State  in  his  letter  says  : 

"The  textile  manufacturers  of  Europe,  in  tlieir  active  competition  with 
each  other  for  leading  ])ositions  in  the  valuable  markets  of  the  United  States, 
have  brought  about  an  increased  production  and  an  annual  decrease  in  the  price 
value  of  their  fabrics,  and  consequently  the  increase  in  the  quantities  imported 
is  relatively  much  larger  than  in  the  values.  This  decrease  in  price  and  in- 
crease in  quantity  have  their  influence  in  regulating  the  wages  in  our  mills, 
which  must  manufacture  fabrics  and  place  them  on  the  domestic  market  as 
cheaply  as  the  foreign  manufacturers." 

And  this  is  said  when  we  have  duties  on  cotton  goods  of  40  and 
fifty  per  cent.,  duties  more  than  twice  as  high  as  the  whole  labor  cost 
in  cotton  goods  amounts  to,  which  according  to  our  census  is,  with 
all  our  high-priced  labor,  29  labor  and  71  material.  As  the  duty 
is  collected  on  the  combined  cost  of  labor  and  material  (assuming 
that  the  relative  labor  proportion  in  Europe  were  as  high  as  here), 
the  duty  collected  would  cover  the  foreign  labor  cost  of  29  by 
138  or  more  than  four  times,  counting  the  duty  as  40  per  cent., 
which  it  frequently  exceeds  very  largely  in  some  fabrics.  But  in 
goods  which  we  have  firmly  established  here  we  could  remove  all 
duties  at  once,  and  we  would  not  import  a  yard  so  far  as  prices 
are  concerned.  What  we  import  now  are  not  any  specialties  of 
ours,  which  we  produce  on  our  11,000,000  spindles  when  we  have 
work  for  them.  What  we  do  import  are  goods  in  which  other 
nations  have  peculiar  adaptation  by  cheap  hand  labor,  such  as  in 
cotton  velvets  cutting  the  pile,  or  in  embroideries,  laces,  curtains, 
netting,  or  fine  light  fabrics,  when  we  have  not  been  able  to  spin 
the  yarns,  though  we  have  tried  it  by  imposing  high  duties  on 
them,  at  the  rate  now,  even  after  the  reduction  of  1883,  of  from 
41.29  to  5 1. 84  per  cent.  This  is  protection  with  a  vengeance. 
England  has  ])articular  advantages  in  yarn  spinning.  The  long 
training  of  her  operatives  and  especially  climatic  influences  in  fine 


22 


cotton  spinning  are  recognized  by  all  the  world  as  factors  which 
cannot  be  circumvented.  Germany  and  France  import  yarns 
largely  from  England,  and  use  them  in  weaving  their  finest  fabrics, 
which  we  are  prevented  from  doing  by  a  stupid  tariff,  and  are 
compelled  thereby  to  import  the  finished  article  ready  made. 
This  we  call  protection.  Prevention  would  be  a  more  fitting  term. 
No  government  report  can  alter  this — that  our  commanding 
position  in  the  cotton  industries  of  the  world  is  to-day  an  acknowl- 
edged fact.  Our  export  trade  is  growing  slowly,  and  if  it  is  to-day 
only  $12,000,000  against  $11,000,000  in  i860,  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury ago,  we  have  to  thank  our  government  for  this  state  of 
affairs  and  the  preventive  measures  by  statute.  Our  cotton  manu- 
facturers and  operatives  have  long  ago  solved  the  question  of  free 
trade  and  protection.  Every  shipload  of  cotton  goods  consigned 
to  China,  every  bale  going  to  England  or  Holland,  every  case 
which  has  to  meet  in  sharp  competition  "  the  pauper  labor  of  Eu- 
rope," is  a  most  potential  argument  for  free  trade  and  against 
governmental  interposition,  an  argument  which  could  not  be  im- 
proved in  its  force  by  the  sublimest  piece  of  oratory. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

WOOLLENS — SHOWING    HOW    CONSULAR     REPORTS    OUGHT     TO    BE 
CONSTRUCTED,   TO  BE  OF  ADVANTAGE  TO  OUR  INDUSTRIES. 

A  GENTLEMAN  of  the  very  highest  authority  in  textile  matters 
writes  to  me  :  "  The  consular  reports,  while  they  give  a  great  deal 
of  valuable  information,  finally  fail  of  their  true  purpose  because 
they  give  no  results — that  is  to  say,  no  clue  by  which  it  can  be 
determined  how  far  the  rate  of  wages  indicates  the  cost  of  labor. 
For  instance,  one  of  the  consuls  did  give  the  conclusion,  and  this 
made  his  report  the  only  one  in  a  particular  volume  that  was  of 
any  real  value.  Treating  the  conditions  under  which  a  common 
woollen  cassimere  is  made  in  Belgium,  he  gave  an  exact  descrip- 
tion of  the  machinery  and  its  cost,  which  was  a  little  higher  than 
the  same  machinery  would  have  cost  in  this  country.  He  gave 
the  product  of  the  machinery,  and  its  kind,  which  did  not  vary 
materially  from  the  product  here.  He  gave  the  rates  of  wages, 
about  /w//"what  they  are  in  this  country,  and  the  condition  of  the 
laborers  not  half  as  good  as  in  this  country.  There  he  might 
have  rested,  and  his  report  would  then  have  been  as  perfect  as  the 
rest,  but  he  added  the  number  of  laborers  required  to  operate  the 
machinery.  This  gave  the  key  to  the  whole  condition.  There  were 
two  and  a  half  working  people  in  that  mill  to  one  in  New  England, 
and,  although  the  rates  of  wages  were  lower,  the  cost  of  labor  was 
higher  ;  still  the  mill  had  a  huge  advantage  over  New  England,, 
for  the  reason  that  all  the  materials  used  in  it  were  free  of  duty. 
A  unit  could  be  chosen  in  every  consular  district  similar  to  the 
unit  of  the  common  cassimere.  For  instance,  in  Lancashire,,  any 
specific  kind  of  cloth  made  in  a  large  way  ;  in  Scotland,  the  ton 
of  pig-iron  or  the  staple  tweed  ;  in  Bradford,  a  given  variety  of 
worsted  goods  ;  in  Germany,  a  dozen  stockings  or  some  specific 
article  of  woman's  dress  goods  made  of  wool.     Each  of  these 

23 


24 

being  fully  described,  after  the  manner  of  the  consular  report  of 
the  woollen  mill  in  Belgium,  would  give  a  clue  to  the  actual  con- 
dition and  to  the  actual  cost  of  labor,  and  would  fully  explain  why 
the  high  wages  of  Great  Britain  are  consistent  with  a  lower  cost 
of  goods  than  can  be  found  anywhere  on  the  Continent." 

The  same  authority  states  that  under  the  administration  of  the 
State  Department  under  Mr.  Evarts  forms  were  prepared  by  him 
which  covered  the  above  subjects  of  inquiry,  and,  if  they  had 
been  transmitted  to  our  consuls  with  instructions  to  report  only 
what  came  within  the  reach  of  the  plan  laid  out,  results  would 
have  been  obtained  of  a  highly  satisfactory  character.  Nothing 
came  of  it,  however,  and  the  plan  referred  to  was  probably  pigeon- 
holed under  the  succeeding  administration. 

As  to  the  specific  application  to  woollens,  the  turnout  of  mill 
hands  in  France  may  be  of  service  in  this  inquiry.  I  will  cite  the 
report  of  Mr.  Consul-General  Walker  of  June,  1882,  in  Consular 
Report  No.  23.  His  report  is  exceedingly  valuable,  and  contains 
a  great  deal  of  useful  information,  but,  the  great  pity,  almost  all 
final  points  referred  to  above  are  left  out.  Once  in  a  while,  how- 
ever, we  get  at  the  number  of  hands  and  the  quantity  of  work 
produced.  It  is  further  to  be  regretted  that  most  of  his  statistics 
go  back  to  1869  and  1870,  and  are  most  likely  taken  from  reports 
of  government  commissions  under  the  imperial  government. 
As  France,  however,  is  not  a  country  of  very  rapid  changes  in 
economic  matters,  the  figures  may  serve  our  purpose. 

I.  A  spinning-mill  at  Roubaix  has  11,000  spindles,  22  self- 
acting  mules  ;  250  hands  earn  $1 11.76  day  wages,  or  45  cents,  and 
turn  out  600  kos.  or  1,344  pounds  of  carded  wool  yarn.  As  there 
are  30  dyers  employed  in  the  establishment  sharing  in  these  wages, 
this  yarn  is  to  be  taken  as  dyed.  The  wool,  however,  enters  the 
mill  in  the  scoured  condition,  as  there  are  no  washers  or  scourers 
enumerated.  We  have  here  a  statement  which  permits  us  to 
draw  comparisons,  although  we  know  nothing  of  the  quality  or 
number  of  the  yarn  :  220  engaged  in  spinning  1,344  pounds  of 
yarn  (including  carpenters,  engine-tenders,  and  firemen)  ;  30  en- 
gaged in  dyeing  1,344  pounds  of  yarn.  One  hand  turns  out  6^ 
pounds  of  yarn  spinning  at  a  cost  of  44  cents  or  7^  cents  a  pound, 
and  44  pounds  of  dyeing  at  a  cost  of  53  cents  or  i^  cents  a  pound. 


25 

This  brings  the  outlay  for  labor  per  pound  to  a])out  8^^  cents  a 
pound,  and  comprises  nothing  but  simple  rough  mill  labor,  without 
counting  the  cost  of  coal,  etc.,  or  the  labor  of  employes  or  overseers 

From  reports  like  this  one  we  could  easily  draw  conclusions 
and  make  comparisons  if  we  knew,  for  instance,  the  exact  nature 
of  the  yarn  spun.  The  machinery  used  is  mostly  all  English  ma- 
chinery. Neither  English  nor  American  spinners  would  liave  so 
vast  a  force  at  work  to  turn  out  so  small  a  product. 

In  dyeing  no  such  force  would  be  required  in  America  as  in 
Roubaix.  One  of  our  most  skilled  dyers,  a  gentleman  who  stands 
at  the  head  of  his  art  in  this  city,  tells  me  that  four  dyers  and  two 
helpers  would  dye  and  make  ready  for  the  market  with  greatest 
ease  i,ooo  pounds  of  yarn  a  day,  and  that  1,200  pounds  is  a  fair 
estimate  of  a  good  day's  work.  The  pay  here  would  be  $15  a 
week  for  the  dyers  and  $10  for  the  helpers.  Let  us  see  how  the 
labor  cost  of  $15  dyeing  compares  with  $3.18  dyeing  : 

Dyeing  at  Roubaix  1,344  pounds  a  day,  30  dyers,  at  a  cost  of    .  .  $15.92 

Dyeing  in  America,  say  1,200  pounds  a  day  : 

Four  dyers,  at  $2.  50 $10.00 

Two  helpers,  at  $i.66|       .......      3.33 — $13.33 

Taking  10  per  cent,  off  Roubaix  to  reduce  the  quantity  to  New 
York's  quota,  we  have  $14.32  against  $13.33,  or  still  a  small  mar- 
gin in  favor  of  American  labor  to  make  up  for  a  possible  excess  of 
estimate.  Of  course,  comparisons  like  this  must  not  be  taken  as 
absolutely  conclusive  in  all  their  details.  The  French,  taking 
more  time,  produce  better  and  richer  results.  The  fact,  however, 
that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  yards  of  foreign  dress  goods  are 
imported  annually  in  the  gray  to  be  dyed  here  in  American  dye- 
houses  shows  that  we  are  pretty  well  advanced  in  the  arts,  as  the 
colors  we  produce  in  French  cashmeres  have  to  sell  with  the  best 
French — a  fact  which  goes  far  to  prove  that  it  requires  not  alone 
good  dyeing,  but  also  good  materials  in  the  fabric  that  is  to  be 
dyed  to  insure  success.  All  our  tariff  stipulations  have  not  yet 
succeeded  in  making  American  wools  fit  to  be  used  in  fine  woollen 
dress  goods.  They  may  make  a  good-enough  article  as  far  as  it 
goes,  but  it  is  not  the  soft  cashmere  that  is  Avanted,  and  whatever 
is  made  here  successfully  to  compete  with  foreign  goods  is  made 
of  the  same  foreign,  mostly  Australian,  wools. 


26 

2.  Take  a  mill  at  Elbocuf  producing  100,000  metres  of  plain 
woollen  cloth  (reduced  to  American  weight  and  money)  : 

(a)  Material :  75,625  pounds  of  fine  German  wool  at  81^  cents   .         .     $63,062 
75,625  pounds  of  other  wools  at  45^  cts.        .         .         .       34,834 

151,250  pounds  shrinks  to  121,000  pounds,  value    .         .     $97,896 
Cost  of  coal        ...........         3>532 

Cost  of  other  materials       .........         Q-^o? 

Total  materials .  $no,535 

(/>)  Labor:  Washing,  dyeing,  sorting,  etc.,  of  the  wool;  spinning, 
weaving  (power-looms),  fulling,  dressing,  and  finishing  263  hands, 
annual  earnings  .........     $41,937 

The  average  labor  per  year  is  $159,  against  America  of  $298,  in  a 
year  of  equally  full  employment.  The  respective  percentages  of 
material  and  labor,  however,  stand  as  follows,  taking  100  as  the 
product  (no  account  being  taken  in  either  case  of  expenses,  profit, 
wear  and  tear,  or  interest).  We  have  for  France,  material,  72-^  ; 
labor,  27!  ;  for  America,  material,  79  ;  labor,  21.  In  the  French 
mill  263  hands  work  up  151,000  pounds  of  wool,  or  580  pounds 
per  head,  while  ours  work  up  1,640  pounds  per  head. 

There  is,  however,  this  to  be  said,  that  the  French  work  up 
finer  stock  and  put  proportionately  more  work  into  Elboeuf  goods 
than  we  put  into  our  general  line  of  woollens  ;  but  both  being  of  a 
higher  grade,  it  would  seem  that  the  two  relative  degrees  (stock 
and  labor)  balance  each  other.  Our  wool,  on  the  contrary,  en- 
ters in  a  less-advanced  condition  into  our  mills,  and  would  lose 
considerably  in  conditioning  it  for  the  first  processes  of  manu- 
facture. On  the  other  hand,  however,  the  French  mill  uses 
nothing  but  pure  wool,  while  our  material  (taking  the  whole 
annual  production  as  our  part  of  this  comparison)  is  very 
largely  increased  by  the  addition  of  shoddy,  hair,  cotton,  etc., 
which  addition  to  the  bulk  would  fully  compensate  for  the  loss 
the  wool  sustains  in  scouring,  and  being  all  worked  by  the  same 
total  of  hands  in  woollen  mills  would  closely  bring  up  the  general 
productiveness  to  the  weight  in  wool  quoted  as  being  worked  up 
by  an  American  woollen-mill  hand.  (Counting  all  spinning  mate- 
rials used  in  woollen  mills,  such  as  shoddy  and  cotton  used  in  mixed 
textiles,  and  dividing  them  per  capita,  3,406  pounds  would  indi- 
cate the  productive  capacity  of  American  operatives  against  the  580 
pounds  of  fine    wool    worked    by  French   hands,  noted    above.) 


27 

On  the  whole,  the  greater  product  of  an  American  operative  is 
obvious  from  both  systems  of  computation,  and  their  larger 
earnings  are  fully  explained.  It  may  safely  be  said  from 
what  appears  from  the  facts  stated,  that,  throwing  all  benefits 
of  any  doubt  into  the  foreign  part  of  the  scales,  so  far  as  the 
labor  cost  of  such  woollen  fabrics  which  can  be  manufactured 
here  is  concerned,  it  does  not  exceed  the  foreign-labor  cost  to  any 
very  large  extent.  Whatever  can  be  done  by  machinery  is  fully  as 
cheap.  The  higher  earnings  are  balanced  by  larger  product.  The 
differences  against  us  in  fine  all-wool  fabrics  seem  to  lie  mostly  in  : 

First. — The  greater  cost  of  wools  by  means  of  tariff  taxation. 

Second. — The  greater  cost  of  hand  labor,  wherever  it  has  to  be 
used  extensively  to  give  the  finish  to  the  goods. 

When,  as  in  our  woollen  production,  the  material  counts  more 
than  three  quarters  and  mill  labor  not  one  quarter  of  the  com- 
bined value,  and  this  one  quarter  can  be  proven  to  be  far  more 
productive  than  foreign  labor,  then  it  is  clear  that  the  differences 
must  be  looked  for  in  other  directions  than  the  higher  cost  of  our 
labor,  which  higher  labor  cost  is  usually  given  in  explanation  of 
the  large  importations  of  woollens  taking  place  all  the  time  under 
a  tariff  protection  of  75  per  cent.  The  suggestion  of  Consul 
Frisbie,  at  Rheims,  in  warning  against  the  Cobden  Club  and  its 
unholy  mission,  is  not  at  all  sufficient  to  explain  the  conundrum. 
Free  wool  and  an  average  tariff  of  25  per  cent,  would  be  a  far 
more  effective  preventative  against  the  danger  of  foreign  woollen 
inundation  than  our  present  75  per  cent,  tariff  and  taxed  wool. 

Considering  the  heavy  duty  on  raw  wool — all  the  way  from 
about  40  to  100  per  cent. — while  duty-free  with  all  competing 
nations,  we  need  not  go  far  to  find  the  cause  of  our  inabilities. 
There  is,  however,  another  point  which  is  the  strongest  argument 
for  free  selection  of  wools  all  over  the  globe,  unhindered  and  un- 
trammelled by  any  law.  First,  the  influence  of  soil  and  climate 
upon  the  growth  of  the  fibre.  This  cannot  be  transported. 
Even  breeding  cannot  overcome  natural  impediments  of  this 
kind. 

The  alkaline  soils  of  most  of  our  Western  Territories  give 
wools  which  are  ill  adapted  to  compete  with  the  soft,  elastic 
staples  of  other  climes.      But,  aside  from  this,  the  nature  of  wool- 


28 

selection  is  more  determined  by  fashion  than  any  thing  else.  The 
industries  of  all  countries  are  affected  by  her  whims,  even  those 
with  free  wool.  How  much  more  we,  with  a  custom-house  fine 
of  lo  cents  on  each  pound  of  wool  imported  and  of  20  to  25  cents 
extra  fine  on  the  dirt  and  grease  which  has  to  be  washed  out  of 
the  bulk  before  the  wool  can  be  put  on  the  cards,  and  for  each  of 
which  two  pounds  of  dirt  and  grease  full  freight  has  to  be  paid 
into  the  bargain.  For  the  last  seven  or  eight  years  soft  fabrics 
have  been  in  fashion,  and  goods  made  of  lustre  and  combing 
wools,  in  which  England  has  always  predominated,  were  in  small 
demand,  so  that  wools  of  this  kind  declined  considerably.  Lincoln 
hogs,  which  in  1S72  commanded  55  cents,  were  worth,  January, 
1884,  only  19I  cents,  and  now  under  larger  demand  are  21  cents. 
English  exports  in  woollens,  worsteds,  and  yarns,  which  in  1872  ' 
were  $190,000,000  had  declined  in  1880  to  $100,000,000,  and  now 
for  1884  they  have  risen  again  to  $120,000,000.  Wliiie  England's 
trade  was  declining,  Germany  and  France,  who  had  always  had 
their  greatest  specialties  in  soft  fabrics,  were  corresponding 
gainers.  But  now  we  find  from  both  countries  complaints  of  de- 
pression, which  can  be  largely  referred  to  this  changing  demand 
for  worsted  and  hard  wool-fabrics.  Now,  if  countries  wlio  have 
the  unlimited  survey  over  all  the  wool  fields  from  Lincolnshire 
and  Sussex,  and  from  Canada  to  Australia,  and  can  land  their 
wools  at  their  doors  at  the  same  price  as  the  English  spinner  plus 
the  trifling  charge  of  extra  carriage,  are  subjected  to  this  pressure, 
how  much  more  must  our  wool  manufacturers  be  suffering,  who 
by  stupid  laws  are  limited  to  our  unserviceable  staples,  or  have 
to  pay  frequently  as  high,  if  not  higher,  duties  on  foreign  service- 
able wools  than  the  duty  on  the  fabric  amounts  to. 

How  our  wool  tariff  obstructs  trade  and  at  the  same  time  causes 
our  woollen  industries  to  stagnate  while  they  might  thrive  and  pros- 
per but  for  the  want  of  foreign  wools,  has  never  been  more  graphic- 
ally described  than  by  our  consul  at  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  who 
but  gives  the  views  of  all  those  who  have  studied  the  situation  in 
which  the  American  woollen  industry  is  placed.  I  cannot  improve 
the  description,  than  by  giving  in  full  his  own  words  on  this  sub- 
ject from  his  letter  to  the  State  Department,  of  Feb.  17,  1885, 
])rinted  in  the  March  No.  of  1885. 

'  The  heaviest  export  year. 


29 

"  The  people  here  complain  that  it  is  not  just  to  expect  them  to 
purchase  goods  and  wares  from  the  United  States,  when  wool,  the 
chief  i)roduct  of  Australasia,  is  almost  excluded  from  the  United 
States  market  on  account  of  the  protective  duties.  I  believe, 
however,  if  a  better  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  wools 
grown  here  existed  in  the  United  States,  that  the  trade  would  be 
much  larger  than  it  is. 

"The  Australasian  wools  best  suited  for  the  United  States  mar- 
ket are  chiefly  of  light,  sound,  shafty  fleece.  These  wools  are  usually 
produced  in  the  south  and  southeastern  Riverina  districts,  in  this 
colony,  and  in  the  upper  Murray  district  in  Victoria.  Austral- 
asian wools  are,  as  a  rule,  soft-handling,  fine-haired,  and  silky. 
These  properties  are  mainly  due  to  climatic  influences,  although 
the  natural  pasturage  of  the  interior  has  without  doubt  assisted  in 
developing  these  characteristics.  Some  of  the  high  grades  of 
wool  grown  in  the  United  States  compare  very  favorably  with 
Australasian  wools,  but,  as  a  rule,  the  American  wools  are  harsher 
and  are  wanting  in  elasticity  and  fitting  properties. 

"The  modification  of  the  present  duties  on  Australasian  wools 
would  undoubtedly  give  a  great  impetus  to  the  commerce  of  both 
countries.  The  United  States  would  then  draw  more  largely  than 
ever  on  the  colonies  for  all  wools  suitable  for  fine  and  superfine 
cloths  and  ladies'  dress  goods.  There  is  no  question  about  the 
American  manufacturers  being  able  to  produce  fine  cloths  and 
ladies'  dress  goods  of  equal  quality  and  finish  to  those  of  the 
most  celebrated  mills  of  Europe,  and  yet  on  account  of  the  duty 
on  Australasian  wool  the  American  merchants  are  obliged  to  im- 
port the  great  bulk  of  these  articles  from  England,  France,  and 
Belgium. 

"  In  the  event  of  the  reduction  of  the  duties  on  Australasian  wools, 
or  of  the  admission  of  that  class  of  wools  peculiar  to  this  country, 
and  not  grown  in  the  United  States,  the  American  mill-owner 
would  soon  be  in  a  position  not  only  to  undersell  in  his  own  mar- 
ket all  woollen  fabrics  of  a  foreign  make,  but  to  compete  success- 
fully with  other  woollen  manufacturing  countries  in  the  various 
markets  of  the  world.  At  the  same  time  the  American  flock- 
master  would  not  experience  any  loss  by  the  change  in  the  tariff, 
as  the  wools  imported  would  be  of  a  different  quality  from  those 


3° 

which  he  is  able  to  produce.  The  advantages  resulting  from  such 
a  change  would  also  be  very  great  to  Australasia,  for  there  would 
then  be  a  keener  competition  than  at  present  for  those  classes 
of  wool  especially  adapted  to  the  American  markets." 

The  whole  situation  is  reflected  as  in  a  mirror  by  this  graphic 
description  of  Consul  Griffith. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  will  surprise  no  one  that,  in  spite 
of  our  superior  working  capacity,  our  woollen  industry  is  a  declin- 
ing one,  while  the  importations  of  woollens  of  foreign  manufacture 
have  been  constantly  on  the  increase.  All  the  facts  related  above 
find  prominent  corroboration  by  comparing  the  woollen  manufac- 
ture as  illustrated  by  the  census  exhibit  of  1870  with  that  of  18S0. 

1870.  1880. 

No.  of  Establishments 2,891  1.990 

Sets  of  Cards 8,366  5,961 

Lbs.  Domestic  Wool 154,000,000  177,000,000 

"     Foreign  Wool 17,311,000  20,480,000 

"     Woollen  and  Worsted  Yarn    .         2,573,000  3,900,000 

Lbs.  173,884,000  201,380,000 

Lbs.  Cotton  Yarn 3,263,000  3,517,000 

"     Cotton  Warp 1,312,000  17,550,000 

"     Cotton 17,571,000  24,744,000 

"     Shoddy 19,372,000  46,583,000 

Lbs.    41,518,000  92,394,000 

The  number  of  establishments  and  the  number  of  cards  has  de- 
creased within  the  decade  nearly  one  third.  The  material  con- 
sumed, expressed  in  total  of  pounds,  has  increased,  however,  al- 
most in  the  same  ratio  in  wliich  the  mentioned  decrease  of  cards 
and  establishments  has  taken  place.  In  1870  215,000,000  pounds 
of  materials  were  consumed  in  2,891  establishments,  employing 
8,366  sets  and  80,053  hands  ;  in  1880  294,000,000  pounds  of  ma- 
terials in  1,990  establishments,  employing  5,961  cards  and  86,504 
operatives. 

This  would  indicate  greater  economy  in  management,  and  greater 
efficiency  of  help,  as  in  the  former  a  capacity  of  2,688  pounds, 
and  in  the  latter  year  of  3,406  pounds  per  operative  is  the  result 
of  the  year's  work.  Closely  scrutinized,  however,  we  observe  very 
serious  decline  of  the  industry.     The  year  was  one  of  great  pros- 


31 

perity,  and  still  the  largely  protected  industry  could  not  give  em- 
ployment to  more  than  6,000,  or  7i-i)cr-cent.  above  the  number  of 
hands  engaged  in  1S70.  Meanwhile  the  population  had  increased 
fully  30  per  cent.  Clreater  decline,  however,  is  noticeable  in  the 
quality  of  goods  produced.  \Vhile  in  1S70  to  173,000,000  pounds 
of  wool,  42,000,000  pounds  of  cotton,  cotton  warp,  and  shoddy 
were  used — or  w(jol  So  and  cotton  and  shoddy  20  ;  the  proportions 
in  18S0  stood  :  wool  201,000,000  pounds  to  cotton,  shoddy,  etc., 
93,000,000  pounds, — or  wool  68  and  cotton,  shoddy,  etc.,  32, — 
clearly  proving  that  woollen  manufacture  has  been  protected  unto 
death,  making  no  possible  headway  against  foreign  fabrics,  a  con- 
sequence of  the  heavy  wool  burdens  bearing  down  our  manu- 
facturers. 

Under  the  high  specific  duty  of  ten  cents  a  pound  on  wool  in 
the  grease,  on  the  low  foreign  wool  prices  all  over  the  world  at  the 
command  of  foreign  manufacturers — a  wool  duty  higher  than  the 
whole  labor  cost  amounts  to  in  medium  goods, — it  would  be 
surprising  if  our  manufacturers  could  prevent  the  large  importa- 
tions of  foreign  fabrics.  But  with  all  this  burden  we  are  making 
progress,  and  some  of  our  heavy  woollens  and  cloakings  may  fitly 
be  compared  to  the  best  productions  of  foreign  makers.  What  the 
industry  would  be  with  free  materials  can  be  imagined  from  a  con- 
sideration of  our  progress  under  all  these  obstructions. 


CHAPTER  V. 

SILKS. 

The  silk  industry  of  this  country  is  now  in  a  very  depressed 
condition.  After  years  of  nursing  under  the  aid  of  a  tariff  of  60 
per  cent.,  lately  reduced  to  50  per  cent.,  with  free  raw  materials, 
we  still  hear  the  same  complaints  of  insufficient  protection.  Raw 
materials  free,  a  50-per-cent.  tariff  wall  to  keep  out  the  neighbors' 
boys,  and  still  not  happy.  Even  the  50-per-cent.  wall  is  not  con- 
sidered high  enough  to  protect,  because  the  fellows  from  the  other 
side  have  built  ladders,  called  undervaluation,  and  thus  are 
enabled  to  throw  stones  at  us  and  make  faces.     So  goes  the  story. 

Now  let  us  examine  this  matter  fully,  and  see  if  there  is  not  a 
great  deal  more  smoke  than  fire  behind  all  this  outcry. 

Undervaluation  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  large  importations  of 
silk  goods,  according  to  the  ruling  doctrine  advanced  in  explaining 
the  phenomenon  of  an  importation  of  $38,000,000  in  1884  (a  year 
of  commercial  depression)  against  only  $31,000,000  in  1880,  the 
boom  year,  and  $23,000,000  as  the  average  from  1875  to  1879  i^' 
elusive.  The  reduction  of  the  duty  from  60  to  50  per  cent, 
ad  valorem  is  another  reason  advanced.  The  pauper  labor  of 
Europe  is  called  in  also,  to  do  its  usual  service  in  the  consular 
offices  as  well,  as  with  the  clairvoyants  who  have  the  case  in 
charge  in  the  home  ofifices.  And  so  long  as  this  explanation  is 
always  at  hand,  what  use  is  there  in  worrying  about  new  remedies, 
or  about  possibly  other  explanations  of  the  sources  of  the  evil .'' 
That  not  all  is  going  right,  we  all  agree. 

But  this  answer  does  not  suffice,  and  I  aim  to  show  now  that 
the  diagnosis  of  the  doctors  of  the  old  school  is  not  correct,  and  I 
will  try  and  lay  bare  the  plain  facts  as  they  appear  to  me  after  a 
careful  study  of  the  case.  To  meet  all  objectors  on  the  outset,  I 
will  say  that  I  fully  understand  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and 
that  it  is  now  a  settled  fact  that  foreign  nations  have  formed  them- 

32 


33 

selves  into  a  mutual  organization  for  attack  on  our  tariff  wall,  and 
that,  in  order  to  hold  our  markets,  they  keep  selling  us  all  their 
goods  which  we  are  able  to  use  at  cost,  or  less  than  cost,  if  need 
be.  I  will  not  for  a  moment  dispute  this  protectionist  credo — of 
the  sinister  designs  of  foreign  powers  on  this  republic  and  its  in- 
dustries. I  will  admit  that  they  dump  all  their  goods  on  our 
shores  at  a  considerable  loss. 

In  silks,  however,  they  must  go  a  good  deal  deeper  yet,  and  the 
losses  which  they  have  to  sustain  to  maintain  their  ground  against 
our  silk  manufacturers  must  prove  ruinous  to  them  in  the  end,  if 
the  case  is  at  all  to  be  met  on  these  grounds.  The  true  situation 
is,  however,  materially  different  from  all  these  phlegmatic  views  of 
indolent  self-complacency,  fostered  by  protection.  This  is  the 
case,  and  I  let  the  reader  judge  of  the  absurdity  of  all  the  above 
referred  to  assumptions. 

Our  own  silk  industry  stands  on  about  this  proportion  of  prices 
of  component  parts,  according  to  the  Census  Report  of  1880  : 
Silk  and  other  spinning  material,  ^16,700,000  ;  wages,  $9,146,000  ; 
profit  and  expenses,  $6,170,000;  or,  expressed  in  percentage, 
52X29X  19. 

Now  it  is  clear  that  our  working  methods  in  the  silk  industry 
are  different  from  those  employed  in  Europe.  We  have  it 
corroborated  by  good  protectionist  authority,  that  of  our  consuls, 
that  to  this  very  day  the  home  industry  is  still  the  ruling  mode  of 
production.  Power-mills  are  being  introduced  gradually,  but  as 
yet  they  have  not  very  materially  affected  the  general  state,  and 
cannot  be  taken  into  consideration  in  comparing  present  and  past 
productive  methods  as  reflecting  on  the  industrial  situation. 

In  America,  on  the  contrary,  the  power  mill  is  all  but  universal, 
and  if  there  are  any  drawbacks  connected  with  the  application  of 
the  American  methods  to  silks  they  are  to  be  looked  for  in  other 
directions  than  in  that  of  the  greater  labor  price  of  the  product. 
Let  us  take  the  district  of  Crefeld  as  an  illustration,  where, 
according  to  Consul  Potter,  90  per  cent,  of  the  work  is  done  by 
hand-loom  weavers.  In  1S81  there  were  32,000  weavers  em- 
ployed to  work  up  :  Raw  silk,  431,552  kos.  or  966,675  lbs.  ; 
schappe  or  spun  silk,  etc.,  215,555  ^^s.  or  482,843  lbs.;  cotton 
yarn,  940,014  kos.  or  2,105,630  lbs. 


34 


According  to  Crefeld  price-lists  of  that   time  tlie  average  cost 
of  these  would  be  : 


966.675  lbs.  organzine,  at  $6.75    . 
482,843  lbs.  silk  schappe,  at  $3.65 
2,105,630  lbs.  cotton  yarn,  at  50  cents 


$6,525,056 
1,762,377 
1,052,815 


$9,340,248 

This  is  the  cost  of  the  material. 

In  the  manufacture  of  these  $9,340,248  worth  of  raw  textile 
material,  25,000,000  marks,  or  $6,250,000,  is  paid  for  labor,  inclus- 
ive of  dyeing,  spooling,  shearing,  weaving,  and  finishing. 

The  32,000  weavers  earned  16,000,000  marks,  or  $4,000,000,  an- 
nually (a  prosperous  year),  or  $125  against  $250,  the  annual  average 
of  earnings  in  an  American  mill.  The  difference,  however,  startling 
as  it  is  on  the  outset  against  American  labor,  has  quite  another  face 
when  we  show  the  relative  proportions  of  material  and  labor  in 
both  countries  : 


Material. 


Labor. 


Material!  Labor  in 
in  100.         100. 


America 
Crefeld 


516,700,000 
9,340,248 


$9,146,000 
6,250,000 


64I 
60 


35i 
40 


We  have  here  again  the  same  exhibit  which  has  been  proven  in 
almost  every  case  touched  by  these  papers  :  American  earnings 
more  than  twice  as  high  as  in  Europe,  and  labor  cost  considerably 
below  the  German  or  other  European  cost. 

Nor  is  this  the  whole  case.  We  are  using  the  silk  raw,  unspun. 
Crefeld  buys  all  silk  in  the  organzine  and  tram  ready  for  the  loom. 
The  cost  of  importation  of  our  silk  in  the  year  of  comparison 
was  $4.70  a  pound.  If  we  compute  the  relative  cost  of  material 
and  labor  upon  our  American  basis  and  condition,  namely,  to 
spin  the  silk  ourselves  and  get  into  shape  for  our  looms,  we  shall 
have  to  add  about  $2,000,000  to  the  Crefeld  labor  cost,  and  take 
it  from  the  cost  of  material.     AVe  should  then  have  for  Crefeld: 

Material,  $7,300,000  ;  labor,  $8,300,000,  or  material  47  and 
labor  53  ])er  cent. 

Now,  I  admit  that  in  a  branch  like  silk,  which  contains  so  many 
kinds  of  goods,  and  where  Crefeld   manufactures  so  much  in  half- 


35 


silk  stuffs,  or  goods  with  cot;on  backs,  there  is  no  adequate  field 
of  comparison.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  labor  cost  of 
goods  manufactured  there  is  as  high  as  stated,  and  that  we  have 
to  pay  for  it  as  well  as  for  the  materials  used  when  we  import 
them.  They  may  sell  them  to  us.  at  cost,  for  dark  and  hidden 
reasons  of  their  own,  but  the  mere  outlays  for  material  and  labor 
have  to  be  refunded  to  the  foreign  manufacturer.  Now,  see  how 
this  account  comes  out.  I  will  show  it  by  means  of  a  diagram  ; 
I.  Crefeld  cost  landed  here  and  duty  paid. 


A  B 

2.  Cost  of  American  silk. 


C 


A 


B 


D 


In  figure  i,  A  is  cost  of  material,  expressed  by  47;  ^  is  cost  of 
labor,  expressed  by  53  ;  and  C  is  the  duty  of  fifty  per  cent,  paid  on 
landing  in  New  York. 

In  figure  2,  A  is  cost  of  a  like  amount  of  material  (being  free  in 
both  countries),  and  B  is  the  American  labor  cost  as  expressed 
above,  641x354^,  and  D  is  the  blank  space  where  to  fill  in  all  possible 
"  ifs "  that  can  be  raised  against  this  mode  of  investigation. 
Undervaluation  would  only  affect  C  in  i,  as  y^  and  B  have  to  be 
remitted  in  full  to  the  other  side,  and  even  if  goods  would  pass 
the  custom-house  at  one  half  the  price  of  manufacture  (the  usual 
claim  of  the  "  experts  "  is  one  of  a  25  per  cent,  undervaluation 
only),  the  line  would  be  reached  midway  in  C,  which  would  still 
leave  enough  of  a  margin  for  the  American  manufacturer  equal  to 
the  whole  cost  of  his  material  and  wages  account.  The  effect  of 
a  50-per-cent.  undervaluation  I  express  by  E,  equivalent  to  a  full 
protection  of  25  per  cent.  I  will  not  enter  here  into  a  discussion 
of  the  relative  advantages  of  the  two  labor  systems  in  the  silk  in- 
dustries.    Very  material  differences  do  exist,  but  the  effect  upon 


36 

the  cost  of  production  is  certainly  in  favor  of  the  American 
method  so  far  as  the  mere  money  outlay  for  wages  is  con- 
cerned in  the  process  of  turning  a  given  amount  of  raw  material 
of  like  nature  into  cloth.  Nor  is  it  very  material  for  the  purpose 
of  this  inquiry  to  answer  the  objection  which  could  be  raised 
against  the  method  of  arriving  at  a  fair  comparison,  that  of  not 
having  the  same  products  under  review.  It  is  not  and  cannot  be 
a  matter  of  controversy,  however,  that  Crefeld's  goods,  which  we 
find  so  difficult  a  match  to  meet  under  a  50-per-cent.  protection, 
and  as  for  that,  Lyons  and  Zurich  goods  as  well,  are  composed  on 
the  whole  of  fully  53  cents'  worth  of  labor  for  every  47  cents' 
worth  of  textile  matter  we  import  in  manufactured  silks,  and  that, 
having  the  raw  material,  silk,  at  the  same  cost  as  the  foreigner,  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  compete  under  a  much  lower  rate  of  duty 
than  cur  present  one. 

But  to  those  who  are  not  satisfied  with  tliis  wholesale  mode  of 
comparison,  I  will  give  a  more  specific  example  of  the  labor  price 
ruling  in  both  countries,  as  paid  by  the  piece. 

I  have  before  me  the  rate  of  payment  to  Crefeld  hand-loom 
weavers,  paid  for  weaving  one  metre  of  taffetas  25  inches  wide  (of 
4  threads  to  the  centimetre  and  32  fine).  This  price  list  is  from  a 
committee  of  nine  Crefeld  masters,  and  is  undoubtedly  as  reliable 
as  any  list  can  be  : 

In  1867  2.50  marks  or  60  cents  ;  in  the  very  prosperous  year 
1872,  2.75  marks  or  66  cents  ;  in  1877  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent, 
below  the  rate  of  1867,  down  to  1.75  marks  or  42  cents,  had  taken 
place.  From  1879  to  iSSi  wages  rose  again  to  nearly  the  old 
rates,  but  now,  under  the  depression  which  is  beginning  to  be  very 
seriously  felt,  and  is  assuming  more  and  more  calamitous  aspects, 
the  rate  of  pay  may  be  even  below  that  paid  in  1877,  when  42 
cents  the  metre  of  this  25-inch  taffetas,  equal  to  about  39  cents 
the  yard,  was  paid.  For  the  same  count  is  paid  in  American  mills 
at  this  period  not  more  than  20  to  25  cents  a  yard.  This  is  one  of 
the  finest  grades,  while  in  lower  grades  the  prices  for  weaving  on 
power-looms  run  down  to  4  cents  a  yard. 

Though  spooling  and  shearing  are  paid  separately  in  Crefeld,  as 
well  as  here,  yet  there  are  a  number  of  auxiliary  operations  wnich 
are  performed   in    the   house-industry  by  the   weaver,   while   in 


37 

American  mills  they  are  an  extra  charge.  In  the  house-industries 
they  are  performed  by  the  weaver's  children  in  his  narrow  house, 
or  by  children  hired  for  the  purpose  at  a  slight  weekly  outlay. 

Making  all  these  allowances,  and  adding  them  on  to  the  labor 
cost  of  American  silk  weaving,  we  do  not  yet  come  up  to  the  price 
paid  to  a  silk  weaver  in  Crefeld  at  times  of  depression  even.' 

The  mere  labor  cost  in  the  finished  product  of  a  pound  of  silk, 
spun,  dyed,  woven,  and  finished  into  pieces  of  goods  of  the 
same  purity,  will  cost  less  in  the  United  States  than  in  Crefeld. 
The  work  account  of  a  Crefeld  "  manufacturer  "  stops  when  the 
piece  is  delivered  to  him  by  the  finisher,  ready  for  shipment. 
That  of  the  American  manufacturer,  however,  is  increased  by  the 
extra  expense  account.  The  Crefeld  "  manufacturer"  has  no  fixed 
charges,  such  as  mill  buildings,  machinery,  fuel,  foremen,  and  super- 
intendents, except  the  necessary  help  for  the  delivery  of  silks  and 
examination  of  the  returned  goods  in  the  various  stages.  All 
these  charges  the  American  has  to  add  to  his  labor  account.  But 
the  wear  and  tear  of  machinery,  the  interest  charge,  superintend- 
ing, and  so  forth,  can  be  expressed  by  ten  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
cost,  and  if  added  to  the  labor  price,  would  only  extend  the  line 
parallel  to  that  of  Crefeld  labor  in  our  diagram. 

Under  conditions  of  depression  referred  to,  a  Crefeld  weaver 
would  consider  8  to  lo  marks  for  his  weekly  earnings  a  very  satis- 
factory result,  while  under  stated  prices  and  full  employment  Ameri- 
can weavers  make  weekly  wages  from  ^8  to  $io.  It  is  clear  from 
this  that  the  pauper-labor  theory  is  not  suf^cient  to  explain  the 
price  differences  which  undeniably  exist.  Of  like  standing  would 
be  the  undervaluation  theory  as  a  means  of  explaining  these 
discrepancies.  That  they  do  exist  is  a  matter  of  record  in  our 
custom-houses.  We  collect  annually  round  $20,000,000  on  round 
$40,000,000  of  imported  silk  goods,  an  unfailing  proof  that  our 
manufacturers  cannot  compete  in  a  great  variety  of  fabrics. 

What  seems  more  pertinent  causes  have  to  be  looked  for  in 
another  direction,  and  of  these  I  shall  speak  more  at  length  in 
the  following  pages. 

'  See  Appendix. 

208158 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    LOADING    AND    DYKING    OF   SILKS. 

From  Great  Britain  we  hear  a  like  wail  of  distress  in  the  silk 
industry.  The  pauper-labor  cry  is  used  as  much  there  as  here. 
Macclesfield  and  Spitalsfield,  as  well  as  Coventry,  have  never  been 
renowned  for  paying  very  high  wages  to  their  poor  silk  weavers, 
not  for  the  last  twenty-five  years  at  least.  Besides,  more  of  the 
silk  work  is  done  on  power-looms  than  in  Germany,  or  France 
either.  The  rate  of  wages  is  a  lower  one  than  in  most  other  Eng- 
lish industries — cottons  and  woollens.  With  these  advantages, 
though  not  protected  by  any  tariff,  the  British  silk  industry  ought 
to  hold  its  own  at  least.  But  instead  of  this,  the  industry  is  rap- 
idly declining — I  might  say,  fast  dying  out.  The  net  imports  of 
raw  silk  (deducting  exports  from  imports)  were  on  an  average  : 

Lbs. 

For  1S61-65,  annually 5,500,000 

"    1871-75,        " 3,700,000 

"    1879-83,        " 2,500,000 

The  decline  in  the  number  of  operators  employed  in  the  in- 
dustry is  greater  yet.  Improved  productive  methods  have  made 
it  possible  to  do  with  considerably  less  help  for  the  same  amount 
of  product  than  in  the  high  tide  of  prosperity. 

The  imports  of  foreign  silk  manufactures  have  increased  in  the 
ratio  in  which  the  imports  of  raw  silk  have  declined.     They  were  : 

For  1865 ;i^7, 260,000 

"    1871-75 averaged,     10,400,000 

"    1879-83 "  12,000,000 

The  British  Government,  alive  to  the  interests  of  commerce 
and  manufacture,  has  instituted  an  inquiry  through  the  Royal 
Commissioners  on  Technical  Instruction.  The  third  volume  of 
their  report  has  been  published  recently,  containing  a  very  valu- 
able paper  by  Mr.  Thomas  Wardle,  of  Leek,  on  the  condition  of 
the  British  silk  industry.     As  the  prominent  features  of  our  own 

38 


39 

situation  are  reflected  by  the  picture  drawn  in  Mr.  Wardle's  paper, 
I  will  introduce  his  statement,  so  far  as  it  bears  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  Wardle  lays  the  difference,  where  it  properly  ought  to  be 
put,  upon  the  weighting  of  silks,  as  also  the  technical  superiority  of 
foreign  dyers  and  finishers.     Silk,  as  a  fibre,  is  largely  hygroscopic 
— that  is  to  say,  it  absorbs  moisture,  atmospheric  moisture,  to  a 
very  large  degree.     Up  to  thirty  per  cent,  of  its  weight  can  be 
absorbed  without  showing  the  moisture.     As  early  as  1759  a  silk- 
drying  establishment  was  organized   in   Turin,  so  as  to  give  a 
guaranty  that  tiie  silk  buyer  does  not  spend  his  money  for  water 
instead  of  silk.     Crefeld  and  Elberfeld  organized  in  1844  a  joint- 
stock  company,  whicli  was  placed  under  public  control,  and  whose 
officers  are  under  oath  to  determine  and  declare  the  real  condition 
and   weight  of  each   bale  of  silk,  determined   after  fully  drying 
sample  skeins  taken  from  the  bale,  and  adding  an  allowance  of 
eleven  per  cent,  as  the  admissible  degree  of  moisture  of  honest 
commercial  silk.     Similar  establishments  are  to  be  found  now  in 
every  large  silk  centre,  guaranteeing  the  net  weight  of  silk.     Now, 
considering  this  to  be  the  nature  of  silk  in  its  pure,  unadulterated, 
natural  condition,  let  us  see  how  man  improves  the  gift  of  nature, 
to  make  a  little  go  a  great  ways,  and  here  I  let  Mr.  Wardle  have 
the  floor : 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood  as  an  apologist,  still  less  an 
advocate,  for  this  lamentable  weighting  of  silk,  but  it  will  be  my 
duty  to  describe  things  as  they  have  been,  as  they  are,  and  as  they 
are  sure  to  continue,  until  commercial  procedure  is  reformed. 

"There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  nonsense  talked  about  this 
question,  and  it  is  quite  time  that  it  was  put  upon  its  true  basis, 
and  facts  and  uses  explained  and  left  to  speak  for  themselves. 

"  For  the  English  dyers  I  must  say  this  :  They  are  not  fraudu- 
lent ;  they,  from  the  necessity  of  their  vocation,  declare  their 
dyes  and  their  weighting  upon  each  invoice,  and  they,  in  order  to 
obtain  a  livelihood,  are  bound  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  manufac- 
turers. Whatever  fraud  there  is,  lies  in  selling  the  combined 
product  as  silk. 

"  With  regard  to  the  weighting  of  silk  in  England  in  past  and 
present  times,  I  may  say  that  I,  as  a  dyer,  never  knew  the  time 
when   silks  were  not  weighted  in  some  degree.     This  is  but  the 


4° 

experience  of  every  English  dyer  at  least  a  century  past.  The 
difference  between  English  and  Continental  weighting  is  in 
degree  only,  English  silks  having  always  been  weighted  to  a  much 
less  extent  than  foreign  ones. 

"It  is  often  said  that  English  goods  wear  well,  because  they  are 
always  of  ])ure  dye,  and  that  French  goods  wear  badly,  because 
they  are  of  weighted  dye.  This  is  not  wholly  the  truth,  and 
explanation  is  needed. 

"  As  is  well  known,  silk  contains  a  gum  or  varnish  to  the  extent 
of  about  one  fourth  of  its  weight.  This  has  to  be  discharged 
with  boiling-soap  solution  for  silk  threads  intended  for  the  warp 
of  a  black-dyed  fabric.  Each  pound  is  thus  reduced  in  weight  to 
twelve  ounces.  To  this  residue  of  twelve  ounces  it  has  been 
usual,  from  time  immemorial,  with  occasional  exceptions,  to  add 
from  one  ounce  to  four  ounces  of  weighting  matter,  to  raise  it  up 
again  as  near  to  its  original  weight  as  has  been  found  desirable  by 
the  manufacturer  in  shaping  the  price  and  quality  of  his  goods. 
The  woof,  or  shute,  being  for  the  most  part  hidden  or  covered  by 
the  warp  threads,  did  not  of  necessity  require  to  be  lustrous,  and 
so  another  method  of  dyeing  was  and  is  resorted  to.  The  silk  is 
dyed  upon  the  gum  in  the  unboiled-off  state — /.  <^.,  the  gum  is  not 
discharged  ;  silk  so  dyed  absorbs  weighting  matter  easily,  and  the 
usual  proportion  was  from  four  ounces  to  eight  ounces  of  addi- 
tion, thus  making  each  pound  of  silk  return  from  the  dyer  weigh- 
ing twenty  ounces  to  twenty-four  ounces,  but  in  some  cases,  as  for 
narrow  goods,  very  much  heavier.  Such  dyes  are  technically 
known  as  souples — /.  e.,  the  weighting  matter  added  being  for  the 
most  part  in  combination  with  the  external  gum  or  'silk  gelatine,' 
and  not  with  the  filbroine  or  silk  proper. 

"  Now,  it  is  a  fact  beyond  dispute  that  black-dyed  silk,  without 
weighting  matter,  is  not  so  permanent  in  color  as  when  weighting 
matter  is  used,  and  the  reason  is  easily  explained.  A  good  black 
on  silk,  in  fact  the  best  black,  is  formed,  as  in  ink,  by  the  union  of 
iron  salt  and  tannic  acid.  Tannic  acid  has  the  property  of  uniting 
itself  with  the  filbroine  or  silk  fibre  and  forming  part  of  its  sub- 
stance, and  by  so  joining  itself  adds  its  weight  to  that  of  the  silk. 
Black  dyes  without  tannin  are  all  more  or  less  unstable.  A  good 
fast  black,  unweighted  and  proof  against  light,  acids,  and  alkalies, 


I 


4' 

has  yet  to  be  discovered.  Therefore  a  pure  and  unweighted 
black  cannot  be  recommended  lor  any  fabric  where  permanence 
of  color  or  durability  of  dye  is  wanted. 

"  The  process  of  weighting  has  been  so  handled  and  developed 
that  dyers  in  both  France  and  Germany  have  no  difficulty  now,  by 
the  use  of  tin,  etc.,  in  makin;^  their  maximum  weights  up  to  40 
ounces  i)cr  pound  on  boiled-off  silk,  to  120  ounces  ])er  pound  in 
souples,  and  even  to  150  ounces  per  pound  on  spun  silk. 

"I  have  a  piece  of  so-called  black  silk  ribbon  of  French  dye,  the 
warp  of  which  is  weighted  to  24  ounces  per  pound,  that  is,,  the 
net  12  ounces  of  silk  made  into  24  ounces,  and  the  shute  weighted 
to  the  frightful  extent  of  100  ounces  per  pound,  that  is,  one  pound 
of  silk  made  into  ico  ounces.  This  is  scandalous,  and  no  French 
silks  should  be  allowed  to  be  imported  without  the  loading  being 
declared  or  tiie  adulteration  heavily  taxed.  It  is  high  time  this 
was  done,  and  its  effect  would  be  to  give  the  English  manufactur- 
ers a  chance. 

'■  The  skill  of  the  French  in  weighting  their  silks  has  been  one 
of  the  chief  causes  of  the  decline  of  the  English  silk  industry. 
They  are  at  ]">resent  producing  weighted  blacks  vastly  superior  in 
appearance  to  the  old-fashioned  English  dyes,  and  yet  considera- 
bly more  than  quadrupled  in  weight  to  the  degree  of  loading. 

"  I  think  this  suggestion  cannot  too  stringently  be  acted  upon. 
It  is  necessary  the  public  should  knr)w  what  it  is  they  are  buying, 
and  this  has  become  impossible  as  matters  now  stand  in  silk 
goods,  because  the  art  of  deception  has  become  a  corollary  with 
the  scientific  skill  and  development  of  weighting. 

"  If  the  weighting  matter  were  as  apparent  in  the  goods  as  cot- 
ton or  wool  when  mixed  with  silk,  the  articles  would  declare  them- 
selves, and  the  reasons  for  the  proportionate  cheapness  would  be 
at  once  apparent  ;  but  the  effort  has  been  so  successfully  made  to 
incorporate  with  the  silk  such  excessive  proportions  of  loading, 
that  the  weighting  matter  is  no  longer  distinguishable  from  the 
silk  itself,  inasmuch  as,  as  I  have  already  said,  it  appears  to  exist 
not  merely  in  contrast  with,  but  in  actual  combination  with  the 
silk  fibre,  and  to  partake  of  all  the  qualities  which  silk  possesses, 
except  that  of  strength,  for  I  should  observe  that  the  strength  of 
the   silk   fibre    decreases  in    proportion   to    the  augmentation   of 


42 

weighting  matter.  Even  the  removal  of  tlie  natural  gum,  or,  as 
the  French  more  i)roperly  term  it,  gres,  of  silk  by  boiling  off  de- 
creases its  strength,  and  to  add  to  the  boiled-off  fibre  any  adven- 
titious matter  further  augments  this  loss  of  strength. 

"The  wife  of  a  friend  of  mine  lately  bought  a  dress  in  London 
— a  black  silk  faille,  of  French  manufacture — for  which  she  was 
charged  20s.  per  yard.  In  a  month  the  fabric  was  comj^letely 
disorganized  or  cut  between  sleeve  and  bodice,  although  it  had 
only  been  worn  a  few  times.  This  was  simple  robbery,  for  silk 
absolutely  unweighted  would  not  have  cost  half  as  much.  I  ex- 
amined the  warp  and  weft  of  this  fabric,  and  found  the  former  to 
be  weighted  to  20  ounces  per  pound,  and  the  latter  to  32  ounces 
per  pound." 

I  have  made  so  full  an  extract  from  Mr.  Wardle's  statement,  as 
it  gives  so  impressive  an  explanation  of  the  causes  which  operate 
against  the  successful  competition  of  English  as  well  as  American 
manufacturers  with  French  silks.  To  the  bad-wearing  qualities 
of  many  foreign  black  silks,  the  female  member  of  every  house- 
hold who  owns  a  black-silk  dress  can  testify.  Tlie  heaviest, 
apparently  best  qualities  frequently  break  the  soonest.  Ameri- 
can silks  are  known  to  wear  better.  Nor  is  this  the  charac- 
ter of  broad  goods  alone.  When  black-silk  fringes  were  used 
in  ornamentation,  American  fringes  were  fully  twice  as  high  in 
price  as  German  fringes  of  the  same  style  and  pattern.  But 
for  every  thing  that  required  solidity,  and  where  the  price  war- 
ranted their  application,  American  fringes  were  given  the  pref- 
erence. Indeed,  they  were  the  only  ones  that  could  be  used.  So 
well  was  this  known  to  buyers  of  ladies'  cloaks  that  their  first  ob- 
ject of  examination  was  the  fringe.  The  foreign  fringe  snapped 
off,  or  rather  fell  off  like  singed  paper  in  response  to  any  not  over- 
rough  trial  of  its  strength,  while  the  threads  of  an  American 
fringe  could  no  more  be  broken  than  if  they  had  been  linen  twist 
of  the  same  thickness. 

Colored  silks  are  not  much  weighted,  but  yet  the  weighting  can 
be  practised  to  nearly  100  per  cent,  of  the  boiled-off  silk.  The 
greatest  difficulty  is  in  black  silks.  Plain  colored  silks  are  hardly 
any  more  imported,  American  silks  having  driven  them  from  the 
market.     With  such  an  immense  stretch  as  is   offered  in  the  ab- 


43 


sorbing  quality  of  silk,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  much  more  the  pound 
of  pure  silk  can  be  made  to  yield  in  yards  or  ounces  of  stuff  goods 
than  the  shining,  hypocritical  surface  tells  the  buyer.  The  difli- 
culty  and  even  impossibility  of  detection  to  any  thing  near  the  full 
extent  of  the  adulteration  is  admitted.  The  manipulation,  dyeing, 
loading,  and  finishing  is  practised  as  a  perfect  science  abroad,  to 
which  not  our  most  skilled  adepts  have  been  able  to  aspire.  It 
will  be  readily  understood  from  what  has  been  said  heretofore, 
that  it  is  not  a  difficult  matter  to  load  silks  twice  as  high  and  pre- 
serve the  appearance,  as  our  foreign  competitors,  with  more  skilful 
handling,  are  practically  able  to  do.  Under  such  treatment  of 
silks  our  diagram  of  the  relative  cost  of  silk  in  Crefeld  and  Amer- 
ica will  make  a  different  showing. 

(i)  Crefeld  silk  landed  here  and  duty  paid,  if  silk  is  of  condition 
and  quality  of  American  silk. 


^B 

A  B 

(2)  Cost  of  American  silk  goods. 


C 


wmm>^ 


A  B 

(3)  Crefeld  silk  duty  paid,  if  silk  is  reduced  to  one  half  the 
American  purity,  and  under  the  same  proportions  of  material  and 
labor  as  in  No.  i. 


A        B      C 

[A,  cost  of  materia]  ;  B,  labor  ;    C,  duty.] 

In  3,  the  relationship  of  material  {A)  and  labor  cost  {B)  is  the 
same,  47  and  53,  as  in  the  diagram  given  on  a  previous  page  on 
silks  ;  but  the  value  of  the  material  does  not  come  to  more  than 
one  half  of  our  own.  The  cheaper  silk  matter  is  made  to  show  up 
so  skilfully  that  these  silks,  not  one  half  as  valuable,  are  frequently 


44 

preferred  to  our  own  on  account  of  their  finish,  greater  softness, 
and  better  color. 

And,  as  to  this,  the  words  of  Mr.  Wardle  are  as  appropriate  in 
our  case  as  in  that  of  Great  Britain  : 

"  In  looking  to  the  future  we  must  admit  that  the  manufacturer 
will  have  to  learn  his  trade,  from  the  rudiments  to  the  highest  in- 
tricacies of  his  loom,  and  must  be,  like  the  French  manufacturer, 
skilled  in  the  manipulation  of  his  material,  and  not  a  mere  capi- 
talist, but  a  teacher  of  his  work-people  ;  the  dyer  must  be  a  man 
of  liberal  education,  well  grounded  in  the  history  and  practice  of 
his  art,  a  well-trained  chemist,  and  able  to  personally  conduct  all 
and  any  of  the  complicated  processes  for  which  he  is  responsible, 
and  which  he  must  thoroughly  understand.  The  finisher,  too,  must 
throw  his  antiquated  notions  aside  with  his  antiquated  machin- 
ery, and  by  knowledge  of  mechanics  and  chemistry  help  to  turn 
out  the  dyed  and  woven  goods  in  that  perfection  of  style  and 
pleasing  finish  which  distinguishes  all  Continental  silks." 

This  may  not  so  fully  apply  to  us  so  far  as  machinery  is  con- 
cerned, but  who  would  say  that  the  other  strictures  do  not  suit 
our  case  ?  The  progress  we  have  made  from  recent  beginnings  is 
indeed  wonderful.  No  one  who  has  examined  American  silk 
goods,  those  especially  of  the  better  medium  grades,  can  fail  to 
recognize  their  value. 

No  one  who  has  examined  the  workings  and  organization  of  an 
American  silk  mill  can  fail  to  perceive  what  the  results  would  be, 
if  in  other  price-making  factors  than  those  controlled  by  the  applica- 
tion of  machinery  to  the  art,  we  were  equals  of  our  foreign  com- 
petitors. One  cannot  fail  to  discover,  faultless  as  the  work  of  the 
weaver  may  appear,  that  a  great  deal  has  to  be  brought  yet  into 
the  art  to  give  our  silks,  in  most  instances,  the  softness,  the  mel- 
lowness, which  make  French  fabrics,  perhaps  of  inferior  value,  so 
tempting  to  the  touch  and  the  eye  of  the  buyer.  To  make  an  in- 
ferior fabric  look  and  feel  equal  to  one  of  higher  cost  is  indeed  an 
art  in  wliich  only  great  skill  and  experience  will  succeed.  Not 
that  we  do  not  attempt  to  make  cheap  goods,  in  silks  as  well  as  in 
other  textiles,  but  they  show  more  the  imprint  of  incapacity  than 
where  a  full  supply  of  good  and  honest  material  meets  the  work- 
man half-way  in  his  attempt  to  produce  a  sightly  fabric. 


:.! 


45 

Success  cannot  be  reached  except  through  workmen  skilled  and 
practised,  and  through  masters  understanding  all  the  details  of 
their  lines.  To  this  we  must  aspire  through  close  study  of  all  the 
subdivisions  of  the  work,  and  not  be  content  with  the  aid  of 
superintendents,  imported  to  do  what  ought  to  be  the  work  of  the 
owner  of  the  establishment.  The  great  textile  industries  of 
Europe  are  all  the  time  introducing  not  only  new  chemical  pro- 
cesses, but  also  new  spinning  materials  into  their  fabrics.  The 
Ramie  fibre  plays  a  not  unimportant  factor  in  silk  manufacture. 
And.  indeed,  whoever  has  seen  the  fine  silky  threads  in  their 
combed  condition  cannot  deny  that  it  is  a  subject  worth  studying. 

The  Dry  Goods  Bulletin,  of  this  city,  time  and  again  for  several 
years  now,  has  called  the  attention  of  manufacturers  to  the  import- 
ance into  which  this  fibre  has  of  late  grown  in  Europe. 

Only  recently  I  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  a  sample  collec- 
tion of  fabrics  made  of  Ramie  fibre,  sent  on  exhibition  from  Europe. 
Materials  of  pure  Ramie  had  the  brilliancy  of  silk,  and  half-and- 
half  fabrics  were  difficult  to  detect  from  all  silks. 

A  chemical  analysis  of  a  piece  of  black  silk  of  foreign  origin 
made  by  Mr.  John  Dean,  of  Brooklyn,  an  expert  of  silks,  revealed 
the  following  items  as  component  parts  of  "original  silk."  I  give 
his  own  description  of  his  investigation  as  published  in  the  Dry 
Goods  Bulletin^  after  having  satisfied  myself  of  the  accuracy  of 
his  tests. 

"  Chemistry  and  the  microscope  show  up  what  so-called  silks 
are  composed  of.  With  them  no  lacquard  sham  can  pass  for  the 
genuine  article. 

"  Having  obtained  samples  of  black  silks  from  various  places  of 
business  in  your  city  and  this,  and  having  put  them  to  these  uner- 
ring tests,  with  this  communication  you  will  receive  the  results. 

"  Exhibit  marked  No.  i  is  a  sample  of  black  gros-grain,  $1.50 
per  yard,  said  to  be  all  pure  silk,  heavy  and  rich-looking,  and  has 
every  ajjpearance  that  it  would  stand  any  amount  of  hard  wear  and 
so  give  the  wearer  satisfaction.  Chemistry  shows  it  to  be  adulter- 
ated 700  (seven  hundred)  per  cent.,  containing  only  sufficient  silk 
to  make  the  two  surfaces  ;  while  the  microscope  reveals  the  fact 
that  the  woof  is  not  silk  at  all,  but  ramie. 

"  No.  2  is  the  ramie  fabric  with  silk  extracted  in  one  part. 


46 

"  No.  3.  is  the  same  again  after  having  its  various  adulterations 
extracted.  You  will  kindly  notice  that  the  little  silk  in  the  warp  is 
a  different  color  to  the  woof  ramie. 

"  No.  4  is  still  the  same  reduced  to  a  carbon. 

"  As  near  as  I  can  judge,  this  imported  fabric  is  composed  of  : 

Silk  fibre  ...........  12.50 

Ramie        ............  60.00 

Oxide  of  iron      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  10.00 

LoLjwood,  oil,  and  other  matter  .         .         .         .         .         .         .  17.50 

Total      ............       100.00 

"  Exhibits  marked  5,  6,  7,  and  8  have  the  adulteration  extract 
extracted,  which  shows  how  little  silk  is  used  to  make  a  heavy 
fabric. 

"  No.  9  is  strictly  pure  in  warp,  but  woof  or  weft  is  heavily 
loaded. 

"  Exhibit  No.  10  is  a  sample  of  which  America  can  justly  feel 
proud  ;  it  is  not  only  home-made,  but  strictly  pure  in  warp  and 
weft  ;  the  dye  used,  just  sufficient  (12  per  cent.)  to  make  it  black, 
was  the  very  best, 

"  Exhibit  marked  10  A  had  the  same  chemical  used  upon  it 
as  exhibit  marked  2  ;  you  '11  notice  the  silk  only  is  destroyed  in 
this  case  (jo  A).  '  Had  much  more  been  used,'  to  use  an  Irish  ex- 
pression, *  there  would  have  been  nothing  left  but  the  hole  to  send 
you.' 

"  Exhibits  marked  10  B  and  10  C  are  still  the  same  fabrics, 
simple  tests  only  having  been  applied. 

"  Exhibit  II  is  the  carbon  of  No.  10  (please  notice  contrast  be- 
tween this  and  exhibit  4). 

"  Exhibit  12,  sample  of  satin  with  its  silk  face  removed. 

"  Now,  sir,  how  long  could  such  a  fabric  as  No.  2  wear  ?  No 
wonder  that  good-souled  old  lady,  Mrs.  Public,  sometimes  gets  in 
a  tantrum,  and  gives  way  to  anger,  and  says  silk  don't  wear,  and 
wonders  why. 

"  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Editor,  she  is  too  fond  of  a  bargain  when  silk 
is  concerned.  She  demands  and  insists  upon  having  a  dollar  for 
fifty  cents.  I  know  not  what  manufacturers  of  other  textile  fabrics 
can  do,  but  if  it  is  tried  on  silk  manufacturers  the  old  lady  w'xWget 
left  every  time." 


47 

Mr.  Dean  lays  bare  the  root  of  the  whole  evil  in  this  latter  re- 
mark ;  to  tlie  discussion  of  which  point  we  shall  devote  the 
following  chapter. 

But  applying  the  philosophy  of  this  investigation  to  our  case, 
it  will  appear  that  it  would  naturally  lead  to  better  results  if  our 
manufacturers  went  to  work  to  obtain  all  the  technical  instruction 
necessary  to  their  art,  such  as  the  nature  and  treatment  of  fibres, 
colors,  and  finishing  processes,  than  to  trust  to  outside  aid. 

The  attention  which  the  governments  of  Germany,  France,  and 
England  are  giving  to  these  matters,  the  technical  schools  which 
are  being  established,  the  scientific  training  which  is  offered  to  all 
who  prepare  for  the  competitive  contest  of  nations,  show  that  we 
must  not  trust  to  the  aegis  of  our  goddess  too  blindly  if  we  wish  to 
maintain  our  grounds. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

ADULTERATION  OF  FABRICS  LARGELY  DUE  TO  HIGH  TARIFF 
TAXATION — GREAT  DEMAND  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  FOR 
CHEAP  FABRICS — A  CONSEQUENCE  OF  THE  GREAT  CON- 
SUMING   POWER    OF    THE    MASSES. 

It  will  hardly  do  to  paint  a  gloriole  of  superior  morality  around 
the  heads  of  our  manufacturers,  as  we  find  done  frequently  in  our 
public  prints,  when  explaining  the  greater  jjurity  of  American 
silks.  The  silk  manufacturer  is  not  made  of  different  stuff  than 
the  woollen  manufacturer.  It  has  been  shown  in  a  previous 
chapter  "  on  woollens,"  from  the  aggregate  of  our  product,  how  we 
have  advanced  in  a  brief  decade  in  the  practice  of  adulteration  of 
materials,  the  purity  of  which  is  of  far  greater  importance  to  the 
millions  for  health  and  comfort  than  that  of  any  other  fabric.  Yet 
adulteration  is  practised  to  an  extent  which,  to  my  knowledge,  no 
other  country  has  yet  shown,  in  its  exported  woollens  at  least.  What 
is  proven  in  the  abstract  by  statistical  comparison  is  fully  known 
in  the  concrete  by  actual  experience  in  life  to  buyers  of  dry  goods. 
With  the  reduction  in  price  of  known  standard  woollen  fabrics  a 
diminution  in  the  quality  and  fineness  of  the  wool  or  the  closeness 
of  the  heft  has  gone  hand  in  hand  to  a  large  extent.  Frequently 
in  mixed  fabrics  we  observe  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  wool  per- 
centage and  an  increase  of  shoddy  and  cotton,  until  finally  little  is 
left  to  vouchsafe  the  application  of  the  name  of  woollen  to  an  article 
shorn  of  all  but  its  name.  Some  exceptions  of  brands,  whose  manu- 
facturers rigidly  adhere  to  the  standard  quality  which  built  up  the 
great  reputation  of  their  staple,  show  by  the  great  success  amid 
the  general  decline  that  the  public  is  not  slow  to  detect  any  hide- 
and-seek  game.  I  will  admit  that  the  high  price  of  our  wools, 
compared  to  European  prices,  and  the  keen  competition  for  our 
limited   markets,  force  our  woollen  manufacturers  to  such  prac- 

48 


49 

tices  ;  but,  if  any  thinj;;,  it  proves  that  like  conditions  creale  like 
effects,  whether  here  or  abroad.  What  our  wool  duties  force 
upon  our  wool  manufacturers  our  silk  duties  largely  force  upon 
foreign  silk  manufacturers — adulteration  to  cheapen  their  fabrics 
in  order  to  beat  our  high  tariff.  Our  cotton  goods  show  that 
where  liiere  is  an  abundance  of  clieap  materials  at  hand  our 
manufacturers  prefer  at  least  to  produce  pure  fabrics,  and  excel 
herein  their  foreign  competitors.  It  would,  though,  be  futile  to 
say  that  the  art  of  filling  cottons  with  clay  and  sizing  is  not  prac- 
tised by  our  industries  in  the  cheaper  imitations  of  better  grades 
of  their  American  competitors.  It  is,  however,  clear  to  all  judges 
that  while  we  excel  in  pure,  unadulterated  American  cotton  goods 
all  nations,  in  cheap  fabrics,  where  sizing  is  intended  to  give  body 
to  the  material,  we  are  wofully  behind.  This  art  is  nowhere  so 
fully  understood  as  in  England,  and  nowhere  so  poorly  practised 
as  in  the  United  States." 

It  is  easier  to  manufacture  pure,  unadulterated  fabrics  than 
where  mixing  of  uncongenial  materials  would  at  once  show  the 

'  England  has  built  up  an  immense  export  trade  more  through  the  art  of  the 
finisher  and  other  means  of  giving  cheap  fal)rics  a  sightly  apjjearance  than  by 
any  other  method.  There  is  no  secret  made  of  this  fact.  If  the  barbarians  of 
Asia  and  South  America  are  eager  buyers  of  thin  fabrics,  made  heavy  by  the 
admixture  of  clay,  barytum,  and  starch,  beautified  l)y  the  decking  out  of  the 
pieces  with  chromos  and  gold-tinsel  bands,  John  Bull  is  willing  enough  to  let 
them  have  the  goods  just  as  they  want  them.  He  knows  that  the  preacher 
would  be  out  of  place  in  the  dry-goods  trade.  He  spends  none  of  his  valuable 
time  in  trying  to  convince  his  customers  that  the  pure  unadulterated  fabric,  such 
as  we  make  it,  is  really  the  cheaper  one.  He  studies  their  tastes  and  desires, 
which  are  mostly  based  on  customs,  grown  up  wiih  the  country  or  on  climatic 
influences,  and  meets  their  demands  and  tastes.  He  aspires  to  nothing  higher. 
Starting  from  these  premises  it  is,  however,  somewliat  mystifying  to  observe  the 
"  I-am-holier-than-thou  "  mien  of  Mr.  Wardle,  when  he  declaims  against  the 
dishonest  silk  manufacturers  of  the  Continent.  What  they  do  in  silks,  the 
English  have  been  practising  for  a  half  a  century  in  cottons.  If  the  English 
are  not  skilful  enough  to  aduherate  silks  to  the  extent  the  Continentals  are 
practising  it,  and  give  the  goods  the  same  appearance,  the  Continentals  have  never 
been  able  to  do  the  thing  in  cottons  as  gracefully  as  the  English  do  the  trick. 
The  latter,  however,  ha%'e  this  in  their  favor,  that  they  sell  the  stuff  for  what  it 
is  worth  and  no  more,  as  can  be  learned  from  ihe  average  prices  of  exported 
bleached  cottons.  (lUit  this  is  also  due,  not  to  a  greater  degree  of  morality 
inherent  in  our  cousins  beyond  the  sea,  but  to  the  fact  that  the  buyer  of  cotton 


so 

attempted  substitution,  unless  covered  by  the  most  skilful  manipu- 
lation. A  perfect  dyeing  and  finishing  of  an  inferior  article  often 
necessitates  more  skill  and  outlay  than  fabrics  of  superior  quality 
require.  This  is  a  far  more  prominent  reason,  why  we  attempt  less 
to  adulterate,  than  principles  of  higher  morality. 

I  can  say  this  the  more  freely,  without  fearing  to  touch  any 
sensibility,  as  I  do  not  at  all  share  in  the  common  outcry  raised 
against  so-called  adulteration  or  cheapening  of  fabrics  by  the  ad- 
mixture of  other  than  the  genuine  material. 

It  is  wrong  to  make  shoddy  cloth  and  sell  it  for  all  wool,  if  such 
is  possible,  which  I  doubt.  It  is  wrong  to  make  starched  cotton 
cloth  and  sell  it  for  p'ure  cotton,  if  such  is  possible,  which  I  doubt. 
It  is  worse  to  make  loaded  and  adulterated  silk  and  sell  it  as  pure 
silk,  because  the  adulteration  is  more  difficult  to  detect  and  deceit 

goods  knows  to  discriminate  between  cotton  and  clay.  He  seems  to  be  well 
posted.     An  easy  matter  in  cottons  but  rather  difficult  in  silks.) 

Following  is  a  list  taken  from  the  Board  of  Trade  Reports  of  1884  giving 

EXPORTS   OF   BLEACHED    COTTO.V,    VALUE  AND    PRICES. 


Price  per  yard 

Countries. 

Yards. 

£.. 

in    American 
cents. 

United  States 

53,000,000 

1,468,000 

1325 

France 

, 

50,589,000 

1,023,000 

9.80 

Germany 

,                    , 

48,757,000 

823,000 

8.25 

Belgium  and  Holland    . 

,                    , 

107,000,000 

1,580,000 

725 

All     other     European 

States    incl. 

Turkey 

. 

503,000,000 

6,164,000 

6 

Egypt  .         .         .          . 

. 

124,000,000 

1,236,000 

4.84 

Central    and    South    Air 

.  States  and 

W.  India  . 

.          . 

642,000,000 

7,848,000 

4.S8 

China  and  Japan   . 

. 

440,000,000 

4.700,000 

5-17 

British  India 

• 

[,792,000,000 

17,650,000 

4-75 

A  trade  which  has  to  depend  on  the  masses  of  the  people,  as  in  cotton  goods, 
has  to  adapt  itself  to  tlie  purchasing  powers  of  those  for  whom  it  caters. 
The  clear  understanding  of  tliis  plain  principle  seems  to  be  at  the  bottom  of 
England's  success.  There  is  no  room  for  sentiment  in  the  brain  of  the  British 
trader. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  want  of  adaptation  to  the  customs,  habits,  and 
necessities  of  foreign  nations  has  been  one  of  tlie  main  causes  of  backwardness 
of  extending  our  trade  in  cotton  goods  beyond  the  10  or  12  millions  between 
which  points  it  has  Ijeen  oscillating  during  the  last  five  years.  It  had  been  the 
same  figure  in  i860.  The  British  exports  of  cotton  goods  within  this  time 
varied  between  the  sums  of  350  and  3S0  million  dollars. 


51 

is  easier  practised.  But  even  in  tliis  branch  we  begin  to  under- 
stand the  case,  and  the  public  lias  tiie  remedy  of  rejection  at  hand. 
The  prices  at  which  these  adLilterations  and  imitations  are  sold  in 
the  market  show  clearly  that  the  scrutinizing  ])rice-regulator  is 
actively  at  work  in  giving  the  true  level  to  fraud  and  deceit.  But 
aside  from  the  bad  feature  of  selling  an  inferior  article  at  the  high 
price  of  the  genuine  article,  which,  however,  cannot  be  practised 
for  a  very  long  period,  or  of  the  equally  bad  feature  of  forcing 
inferior  woollens  or  shoddy  goods  upon  our  customers  at  prices  of 
genuine  pure  woollens  (largely  due  to  the  government  tax  on  genu- 
ine wool),  this  adulteration  of  fabrics  is  nothing  more  than  a  rec- 
ognition of  the  commercial  situation  created  by  the  democratic 
organization  of  our  civilization.  All  our  industries  are  bent  on 
gaining  the  largest  possible  markets  among  the  millions.  Few  of 
our  capitalists,  manufacturers,  or  merchants  would  care  to  embark 
in  any  enterprise  where  they  could  not  feel  sure  that  they  could 
gain  the  patronage,  the  custom  of  the  great  masses  of  the  people, 
the  millions  of  bread-winners  with  small  incomes.  They  recog- 
nize the  comparatively  small  value  of  the  trade  of  the  few  wealthy 
who  use  the  finer  fabrics.  They  know  the  great  purchasing  power 
of  the  collective  incomes  of  the  poorer  classes.  No  nation  can 
show  so  great  a  proportion  of  its  people  engaged  in  useful  occu- 
pations. No  nation  can  show  so  great  a  proportion  of  its  labor- 
ing people  earning  sums  of  money  which  in  Europe  would  be 
considered  fair  incomes  of  the  middle  classes.  This,  of  course, 
creates  great  purchasing  power,  which  is  freely  exercised.  There 
is  a  spirit  of  "  I-am-as-good-as-you  "  about,  which  happily  cannot 
be  crushed  even  by  momentary  depression.  Even  if  silks  are  high, 
they  are  bought  nevertheless.  On  a  Sunday  our  working  girls 
are  as  well  dressed  as  anybody,  and  if  a  50-per-cent.  tariff  makes 
silks  too  costly  in  the  pure  state,  they  have  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
substitute.  This  cheapening  of  fabrics  is  simply  the  attempt  to 
meet  the  capacity  of  the  slender  purses  of  our  millions.  The 
nearest  remedy  against  adulteration  would  be  an  abolition  of 
duties,  which  would  bring  the  jnire  article  within  the  reach  of  the 
less  pecunious  classes  who  share  in  the  annual  consumption  of  a 
hundred  millions  of  silk  goods — American  value,  adding  duties 
paid   the  government.      High  duties  upon  the  material  are  a  pre- 


.  5- 

mium  upon  adulteration  at  home.  High  duties  upon  fabrics  are 
a  premium  upon  adulteration  abroad.  ^Ve  cannot  escape  from 
this  result  of  our  fiscal  system.  We  cannot  eat  our  pudding  and 
have  it  too.     Our  peo|)le  love  to  be  well  dressed. 

If  our  government  removes  from  their  reach  the  genuine  thing, 
which  their  love  of  the  beautiful  would  prefer  to  have,  why,  they 
have  to  take  the  nearest  thing  they  can  get,  the  imitation. 

The  cheapening  of  fabrics,  througli  any  new  process  or  means  of 
reducing  the  price,  at  once  increases  the  consumption  in  a  most 
unexpected  manner.  Cotton  embroideries,  made  in  Switzerland 
and  Saxony  on  so-called  Swiss  machines,  have  been  imported 
formerly  in  limited  quantities.  The  great  profits  made  originally 
by  the  manufacturers,  however,  caused  so  many  machines  to  be 
built,  the  competition  became  so  keen,  that  where  38  centimes 
was  the  average  for  a  hundred  stitches  in  St.  Gall  for  1S75,  the 
same  work  is  done  now  for  25  c,  and  in  dull  times  as  low  as 
20  c.  To  meet  the  demand  for  cheap  and  showy  trimmings, 
necessarily  arising  in  a  country  of  a  social  organization  like  ours, 
some  American  houses  in  response  thereto  have  opened  branches 
there,  and  have  their  embroideries  made  to  suit  their  trade.  They 
use  cheaper  materials,  copy  or  have  designed  rich  patterns  used  in 
high-cost  goods,  and  by  reducing  the  number  of  stitches  employed 
in  tlie  more  costly  work  obtain  effects  nearly  similar  to  that, 
but  at  considerably  less  price,  and  are  enabled  thereby  to  outsell 
their  competitors.  They  have  built  up  an  immense  trade  within 
the  last  years,  selling  cheap  goods  at  moderate  ])rices  and  moder- 
ate profits.  The  outcry  of  fraud  had  also  been  raised  against 
these  importers, — the  easiest  explanation  given  to  new  facts,  not 
studied  usually  by  those  in  possession  of  an  old-established  trade. 
But  to-morrow  is  the  deadly  foe  of  to-day,  as  to-day  is  of  yester- 
day. Though  we  all  suffer  decline  and  death  in  this  truism,  yet 
it  is  the  cradle  of  all  growtli  and  progress. 

Com[)etitive  forces  are  so  keen  and  active  to-day  that  they  de- 
molish in  the  briefest  time  the  most  gigantic  structures  of  wealth 
and  trading  power.  To  fight  and  obstruct  them  is  like  the  fight 
of  the  elephant  and  the  locomotive. 

In  the  case  cited  above  the  United  States  Treasury  Department 
had  come  to  tiie  aid  of  the  old-established  importing  houses  on 


53 


whom  the  new  system  lias  had  the  most  injurious  effect.  Tiie  tra- 
ditional policy  of  the  United  States  Government  for  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  has  been  to  increase  prices  by  legislation  and  executive 
action.  It  cannot  surprise,  therefore,  that  superficial  observers 
should  only  see  fraud  and  undervaluation  in  any  introduction  of 
goods,  at  prices  cheaper  than  the  official  mind  can  explain,  into 
the  trade  centres  of  this  country.  My  most  careful  inquiry  into 
the  practices  of  the  importers  of  embroideries  has  not  enabled  me 
to  detect  more  than  this  perfectly  legitimate  and  natural  design 
of  competitive  forces. 

Now,  this  cheapening  of  an  article  of  luxury  has  been  the  cause 
that  the  importations  of  embroideries  have  more  than  doubled  in 
value,  and  perha])S  (iuadru[)led  in  bulk,  within  the  last  six  or  eight 
years — all  clearly  in  response  to  the  great  consumi)tive  capacity 
of  the  poorer  classes  of  our  population. 

The  great  power  of  absorption  of  textile  fabrics  by  the  Ameri- 
can people,  taken  per  capita,  can  best  be  shown  by  comparing 
Germany's  home  consumption  of  textile  fabrics  with  those  of 
America.  I  have  to  arrive  at  the  result  in  a  roundabout  way.  Ger- 
many has  no  census  enumeration  of  manufacturing  industries  as  we 
have  it.  In  taking  the  value  of  raw  material  as  the  basis  of  calcula- 
toin,  we  can,  however,  get  at  the  relative  total  values  of  production. 
I  propose  to  take  the  English  export  value  of  the  material  and  add 
loo  per  cent,  as  the  cost  of  manufacture.  This  is  to  cover  the 
labor  cost,  general  manufacturing  expense,  rent,  taxes,  interest, 
and  manufacturer's  profit.  It  is  somewhat  in  excess  of  our  own 
manufacturing  cost  of  the  aggregate  of  our  textile  industries, 
which  stand  as  follows  :  ' 


Carpets  .  .  .  .  . 
Cotton  goorls  .... 
Mixed  icxliles  .... 
Silk  goods  ..... 
Wool  hats,  woollens,  and  worsteds 
Cordage  and  twine 


Totals 


1 

Material. 

Labor. 

Product. 

$19,000,000 

113,700,000 

37,200,000 

22,400,000 

127,500,000 

9,300.000 

$6,800,000 
45,600,000 
13,300,000 

g,  100,000 

33,400,000 

1,500,000 

$31,800,000 

211.000,000 

66,200,000 

41,000,000 

203,000,000 

12,500.000 

$329,100,000 

$109,700,000 

$565,500,000 

'  Or,  addition  to  cost  of  material,  72  per  cent. 


54 


The  difference  between  this  and  the  assumed  percentage  addi- 
tion of  ICO  will  cover  part  of  distributing  expense  not  contained 
in  the  above.  Both  countries  being  treated  alike,  the  result  will 
not  be  affected  very  materially. 

a.  —  AMERICAN  CONSUMPTION  OF  TEXTILES. 

I. — Manufacturing.  i8So  : 

Cotton,  961,000,000  pounds,  at  14  c $134,540,000 

Flax,  hemp,  si>al,  juie,  etc.,  100,000,000  pounds,  at  8  c.      .  S, 000,000 

Silk,  raw,  2,900,000  pounds,  at  $4.75           ....  13,775,000 

ClolhiniT  wool,  260,000,000  (' 210,000,000  pounds),  at  25  c.  52,500,000 

Carpet  wools,  36,000,000  pounds,  at  15  c 5,400,000 

Total $214,215,000 

I  count  no  other  mill  supplies,  dye-stuffs,  etc.,  but  simply  textile 
raw  materials  in  the  above.  These  other  items  amount  to  a  total 
of  ^42,000,000,  and  would  bring  our  material  cost  (all  of  which  is 
first  count,  as  I  have  eliminated  all  duplications)  equal  to  foreign 
cost  of  $256,000,000,  or  : 

Manufactured  value  of $512,000,000 

From  this  we  have  to  deduct  exports  : 

Cotton  goods,  cordage,  etc.,  say         .....  14,000,000 


Leaving  .... 

We  have  to  add  now  foreign  imports  : 
Cotton  manufactures 
Flax,  hemp,  jute,  etc. 
Silk  manufactures     . 
Woollen  manufactures 


$498,000,000 


$30,000,000 
25,500,000 
32,300,000 
34,000,000 


Total $121,800,000 

Or,  all  textiles,  home-  and  foreign-made  ....       $619,800,000 

This  represents  first  cost,  and  does  not  include  distributive, 
fiscal,  or  other  expense  than  that  included  in  manufacturing  cost. 
Per  capita  of  population  it  represents  $620  divided  by  50,  equals 
$12.40  ;  or,  for  each  group  of  three,  according  to  the  census,  it 
equals  $37.20. 

'  American  wools,  as  rendered  to  mills,  shrinking  more  than  German  wools 
valued  at  25  c,  in  our  account  will  have  to  be  reduced  20  per  cent,  to  bring 
them  at  a  par  with  German  wools.  The  census  figures  for  all  wools  consumed 
in  our  mills,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  arc  taken  as  $84,000,000.  The  differ- 
ence of  $32,000,000  may  fairly  be  taken  as  expressing  the  difference  in  the  cost 
between  foreign  and  American  manufacturers. 


55 

Now  let  us  sec  how  Germany  is  situated  : 

/'.—Germany's  consumption  of  textilks. 

I. — Manufacturing,  1880  : 

Coiion,  300,000,000  lbs.,  at  14c $42,000,000 

l-'lax,  lienip,  jute,  etc.,  247,000,000  lbs.,  at  8c.           .         .  19,760,000 

Silk,  5,100,000  lbs.,  at  $4.75 24,225,000 

\Voul,  Kjo, 000,000  lbs.,  at  25c. 47,500,000 

Spinning  materials  .  .  ....       $133,485,000 

To  this  we  have  to  add  20  per  cent,  for  mill  supplies,  etc.,   as 

in  rt,  or      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  26,000,000 

II. — Excess  of  imports  of  yarns  over  exports,  according  to  the 
Statistical  Vtar-Book  of  the  German  Empire,  i88i, 
140,000,000  marks,  or       ......  .  34,000,000 

$193,485,000 

As  we  import  all  our  spinning  materials  raw,  or  almost  wholly 
so,  while  Germany  uses  large  quantities  of  foreign  yarns,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  addition  of  100  per  cent,  to  represent  the  cost  of 
manufacture  is  excessive  in  this  instance.  Intending,  however, 
to  throw  all  the  benefits  of  the  doubt  to  the  German  side,  as  I 
wish  to  show  our  superiority  as  consumers  of  textiles,  I  will  not 
go  into  closer  scrutiny  of  this  item.  We  have  now,  therefore,  a 
German  textile  production  of  round  ^380,000,000,  against  $512,- 
000,000  of  ours,  on  the  basis  of  materials  of  an  equality  of  cost, 
and  not  on  the  basis  of  taxed  materials  and  fabrics,  raising  Ameri- 
can valuation.  But  while  we  have  to  draw  on  foreign  supply  to 
the  extent  of  25  per  cent,  of  our  total  product  to  fill  our  home 
demand,  Germany  has  a  large  part  of  her  smaller  product  over 
for  export. 

Production $380,000,000 

III. — Excess  of  German  exports  over  imports  of  textile  fabrics 
— Statistical  Year-Book,  l88i  : 

Exports  ....  marks         675,000,000 

Imports         ......  104,000,000 


Clothing,  millinery,  etc.,  amounting  in  excess 
of  imports  to  95,000,000.  As  about  one 
ihiid  of  this  sum  expresses  labor  and 
profits,  etc.,  engaged  in  converting  the 
material,  we  have  to  deduct,  say 


And  have  left,  .... 

To  deduct  as  excess  of  exports,  or   . 

Which  leaves  for  consumption  at  home 


571,000,000 


35,000,000 


marks         536,000,000 


127,000,000 

$253,000,000 


56 

The  population  at  45,000,000  is  $253  divided  by  45  equals 
$5.62  per  capita,  which  per  group  of  3  gives  $16.86  for  Germany, 
against  S37>2o  for  America.'  In  other  words,  our  higher  standard 
of  living,  and  consequent  greater  productiveness,  enables  our 
w-orking  people  to  consume  by  nearly  two  and  a  half  times  more 
of  textiles  than  people  of  a  lower  standard  of  living  and  lower 
productiveness.  A  cardinal  point  in  this  discussion  is  that  great 
productiveness  finds  its  natural  equation  in  the  greater  consuming 
power  of  the  people.  Great  consuming  power  of  the  masses 
naturally  leads  to  great  productive  power.  Both  supplement 
each  other. 

If  the  consuming  power  of  the  American  were  not  greater  than 
that  of  the  German  people,  then  the  home  product  and  imports  of 
textiles  of  iSSo  would  be  sufficient  to  cover  a  nation  of  110,000,000 
people  instead  of  50,000,000. 

50,000,000  X  1,240 

— ■ —  =  110,320,000. 

562 

If    the    German    people   had    the    consuming   capacity  of   the 

American  people,  then  Germany  could  find  a  market  at  home  for 

$558,000,000  of  dry  goods,  instead  of  $253,000,000,  her  present 

consumption. 

253,000,000  X  1,240 

=  558,220,000 

562 

The  wealthy  and  well-to-do  classes  of  all  countries  stand  on 
about  an  equality  as  regards  the  consumption  of  dry  goods.     The 

'  This  is  the  first  value.  Tlie  distributive  value,  of  course,  is  considerably 
higher.  The  annual  outlay  of  the  consumer  for  dry  goods  would  be,  according 
to  our  method  adopted  in  chapter  XII.,  as  follows  in  America  : 

As  above  in  A $620,000,000 

Duty  on  imported  dry  goods  and  textile  fibres     ....  67,000,000 

Increased  cost  of  domestic  raw  material  on  acct.  of  protection  .  35,000,000 
Increased  cost  on  this  raw  material  and  other  increase  on  acct. 

of  protection  ..........  ^    50,000,000 

And  15  ;i  for  wholesaler's  gross  profit           .....  115,000,000 

"    20;^    "    retailer's            "         "             .         .         .         .         .  178,000,000 


And  we  have  a  gross  value  of     ......  .$1,065,000,000 

as  the  annual  outlay  of  our  consuming  millions  for  dry  goods.  Boots  and 
shoes,  and  the  additional  expense  for  converting  into  clothing  either  by  manu- 
facturers, seamstress,  or  tailor,  is  not  included  in  this. 


57 

great  divergence  in  our  two  examples  is  mainly  due  to  llic  greater 
purchasing  power  of  our  working  people.  If  there  were  no  oilier 
proof,  these  tables  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  prove  that  the 
well-being  of  the  working  classes  is  the  only  sure  fundament  of  a 
nation's  lasting  and  solid  prosperity.  To  the  enhancement  of 
this  all  intellectual  forces  must  apply  themselves.  Raise  their 
standard,  and  all  else  will  be  raised  by  natural  gravitation.  The 
capitalist,  the  employer,  the  merchant,  the  professional  man,  all 
in  turn  find  increased  prosperity  from  this  greater  ability  to 
consume,  inherent  in  our  working  people.  But  this  greater  con- 
suming power  cannot  be  maintained,  far  less  increased,  by  taxing 
the  dollar  of  the  workingman,  but,  on  the  contrary,  by  the  elimi- 
nation of  all  taxes,  public,  corporate,  or  private,  so  far  as  possible, 
therefrom. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PRODUCTION     OF     TEXTILES     IN     GENERAL — THE    IMPORTANCE    OF 
THE    CONVERTING    INDUSTRIES — LABOR-SAVING    DEVICES. 


Next  to  the  agricultural  interest,  that  of  textile  industries 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  commercially  and  economically.  If 
for  no  other  reason  than  as  employer  of  labor,  it  would  be  well 
worthy  of  the  most  earnest  attention  of  the  statesman.  In  con- 
nection with  foreign  affairs,  the  importance  of  the  textile  industries 
is  apparent  at  a  glance  when  their  large  proportions  are  taken 
into  view,  as  illustrated  by  their  position  in  foreign  trade  and 
commerce. 


I88I. 

General  exports. 

Exports  of  textiles. 

Percentapje  of 

textiles  to  general 

exports. 

Great  Britain    . 

United  States   . 
Germany  . 
France 

$1,123,000,000 
884,000,000 
715,000,000 
658,000,000 

$590,000,000 

15,000,000 

197,000,000 

165,000,000 

52i 

27i 

25 

We  are  not  very  great  exporters  of  textiles  (our  share  in  the 
combined  export  trade  of  $967,000,000  of  the  four  principal 
commercial  nations  of  the  world  not  being  more  than  ^15,000,000.) 
but  as  if  to  compensate  for  this  shortcoming,  we  make  up  for  the 
difference  as  importers  of  textiles,  where  we  hold  the  first  rank  : 


Great  Britain  (iSSi) 
Uniied  States  (1S81) 
United  Stales  (1884) 
Germany  (1S81)   . 
France  (1881) 


General   net 
imports. 


$1,900,000,000 
642,000,000 
667,000,000 
712,000,000 
950,000,000 


Imports  of    textiles, 
includinfj  apparel, 
■    etc. 


$98,000,000 

113,000,000 

130,000,000 

90,000,000' 

48,000,000 


Pcrcentasre   of 

textiles  to  general 

exports. 


51 

I2i 

5 


'  Including  $65,000,000  of  yarns. 
58 


59 

Nearly  one  fifth  of  all  our  imports  are  textile  manufactures,  and 

when  \vc  deduct  from   the  imports  of  textiles  all  yarns,  as  we  do 

not   import   any,  while  they  form   a  very  large  part  of  the  textile 

im])orts  of   Germany   and    France,   then   our   imports   in   textiles 

nearly  equal  the  imports  of  these  three  nations  combined  : 

i88r. 

C'.reat  r.iitain $96,000,000 

Germany 35,000,000 

France 36,000,000 

$167,000,000 

The  United  States  in  18S4  imported,  excluding  yarns,  $128,- 
000,000,  which  is  equal  to  the  combined  imports  of  Great  Britain 
and  Germany,  or  nearly  four  times  the  imports  of  either  Germany 
or  France. 

THE    IMPORTANCE    OK    THE    CONVERTING    INDUSTRIES. 

But  there  is  a  new  and  very  important  adjunct  of  the  dry-goods 
business  connected  with  this  trade  now,  which  from  its  magnitude 
deserves  prominent  mention  :  that  of  ready-made  clothing  for 
men  and  women.  Speaking  of  the  wholesale  branch  of  this 
business  alone,  including  shirts,  millinery,  etc,  I  doubt  that  there 
is  any  industrial  branch  in  this  country  which  gives  employment 
to  so  great  a  number  of  people.  Commercially  this  trade  is  not 
of  less  importance.  It  may  safely  be  said  that  of  all  heavy  woollens 
manufactured  in  this  country,  three  fourths  at  least  are  converted 
by  the  wholesale  clothing  trade.  It  is  an  equally  safe  estimate  to 
state  that  of  all  heavy  woollens  manufactured  for  ladies'  cloaks, 
nine  tenths  are  consumed  in  the  manufacturing  industry  of  cloaks. 
Of  shirtings,  flannels,  and  muslins  it  would  be  difficult  to  estimate 
proportions,  but  the  immense  quantities  consumed  in  the  ladies' 
underwear  manufacture,  in  that  of  men's  shirts  and  kindred 
manufacturing  industries,  can  safely  be  measured  by  hundreds  of 
millions  of  yards.  It  is,  therefore,  fit  to  speak  in  this  connection 
of  these  industries,  industries  of  recent  growth  only,  the  children 
of  the  sewing-machine,  so  to  speak. 

The  annual  sales  from  first  hand  amount  to  fully  $300,000,000, 
all  of  which  is  consumed  at  home.  Though  it  may  safely  be 
asserted  that  this  branch  of  the  dry-goods  trade  is  more  developed 


6o 


in  the  United  States  than  in  any  foreign  country,  yet  our  exports 
are  nil,  while  the  exports  of  foreign  nations  are  largely  composed 
of  made-up  clothing,  etc.,  hats  and  caps,  shirts,  millinery  goods, 
etc. 


Exports  of  preneral 
dry  goods  exclus- 
ive of  yarns. 


Exports  of  made- 
up  dry  goods.' 


Per 
cent. 


Great  Britain 
Germany     . 
France 


$500,000,000 
165,000,000 
158,000,000 


$50,000,000 
21,000,000 
22,000,000 


10 
13 
14 


For  manufacturing  purposes  the  sewing-machine  is  employed 
perhaps  as  universally  in  Germany,  France,  and  England  as  in 
America,  yet  it  would  not  be  a  rash  assertion  to  maintain  that  the 
factory  organization  in  the  United  States,  including  the  power 
employed,  is  far  more  complete  in  this  branch  than  elsewhere. 
Though  I  am  not  able  to  make  comparisons  from  personal  obser- 
vations, yet  there  are  many  indications  to  prove  that  we  use  even 
in  steam-power  factories  far  less  help  for  a  given  amount  of  work 
than  the  French  do.  For  instance,  one  of  the  greatest  French 
authorities,  M.  Leroy-Beaulieu,  in  his  book,  "  Le  Travail  des 
Femmes  au  XlXme  Siecle,"  has  given  some  very  interesting  details 
on  this  very  modern  subject.  The  number  of  basters  and  finishers 
employed  in  a  white-goods  factory,  preparing  the  materials  for  the 
machine  operator,  sounds  astonishing  to  an  American.  He  speaks 
of  the  co-operation  of  four  persons  for  one  machine  as  an  ordin- 
ary method  of  work.  The  forewoman  of  the  firm  of  Godillot  & 
Cie.,  at  Paris,  a  house  employing  about  1,000  people  and  using 
steam  as  a  motive  power,  told  M.  Beaulieu  of  ten  to  twelve  per- 
sons required  for  one  machine  to  prepare  and  to  finish  the  work. 
He  adds,  however,  that  this  is  not  the  ordinary  proportion,  and 
that  every  thing  depends  on  the  material  and  the  skill  of  the  opera- 
tor. So  far  as  wages  are  concerned,  they  seem  liberal  compared 
with  the  usual  rates  paid  for  women's  work  in  Europe.  What  he 
says  in  a  general  view  is  attributable  to  tlie  United  States  to  a 
greater  degree  yet  :   "  When  we  enter  into  an  inquiry  on  the  influ- 

'  Not  counting  hosiery  or  knit  goods. 


i 


6i 

ence  of  the  sewing-machine  on  wages,  we  may  present  this  as  an 
almost  certain  fact  ;  it  is  indisputable  that  the  machine-operators' 
pay  is  higher  than  the  hand-scwers'  wages  were  ever  before." 
After  one  month's  apprenticeship  the  firm  of  Godillot  pay  their 
operators  3  francs  50  centimes,  or  66  cents,  a  day.  The  firm  of 
Hayem  gives  3  francs,  or  57  cents,  as  the  average,  but  5  francs  to 
6  francs,  or  from  95  cents  to  ^1.14,  for  their  best  operators. 
Basters  and  finishers  get  2  francs  to  2  francs  50  centimes,  or  38  to 
47  cents,  or,  as  the  highest  attainable  rate,  3  francs  to  3  francs 
25  centimes,  or  57  to  6;^  cents  for  11  hours*  work  in  the  factory. 
These  wages  seem  high  compared  lo  the  2  francs,  or  38  cents, 
which  M.  Beaulieu  states  as  the  average  of  female  wages  in  Paris, 
or  even  the  higher  rate  of  2  francs  78  centimes,  or  52  cents,  the 
average  for  the  same  class  of  workers,  according  to  a  report  of  a 
parliamentary  commission  by  M.  Ducarre,  Deputy  of  the  Rhone 
Department. 

Mr.  Edwin  Chadwick  states  the  weekly  wages  of  an  English 
operator  as  ranging  from  $3.84  to  $6  (16  to  25  shillings). 

Daul,  "Die  Frauenarbeit,"  gives  $2.14  to  $3.24  as  the  weekly 
earnings  of  German  machine  operators. 

In  American  white-goods  factories  finishers  get  about  $5  a 
week,  while  machine-operators  (entirely  piecework)  earn  from  $6 
to  $8.  The  baster  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  The  finest  work  is  made 
and  completed  exclusively  by  machine  work,  except  a  few  finish- 
ing stitches  by  hand  sewers.  While  in  French  factories  an  average 
of  four  hands  to  one  machine  is  counted,  the  proportion  in  an 
American  factory  would  hardly  be  expressed  by  a  reversal  of  the 
figures,  hardly  one  finisher  or  extra  hand  being  required  to  four 
machines,  and  this  only  in  the  finest  work,  the  cheaper  kinds  being 
done  entirely  by  machine. 

CHEAPNESS    OF    AMERICAN    WORK. 

The  manufacturers  of  other  countries  would  be  astonished  if 
they  could  look  into  our  factories  and  examine  how  we  manage  to 
produce  such  heaps  of  work  at  such  trifling  expense  by  the  piece. 
A  look  at  our  tool  chest  might  explain  the  secret  to  them.  The 
hemmers,  the  folders,  the  binders,  the  corders,  the  tuckers,  the 
rufBers,  the  plaiting  machines,  the  puffers,  the  guages,  the  edge- 


62 

folders,  etc.,  etc.,  are  all  of  American  invention.  With  their  aid 
and  a  proper  division  of  labor,  all  the  work  is  accomplished  with 
such  rapidity  and  cheapness  that  we  have  no  difficulty  in  finding 
a  market  in  Canada.  Of  course  this  applies  only  to  plain  work — 
that  is  to  say,  goods  made  entirely  of  American  cotton  goods.  As 
there  is,  however,  a  great  deal  of  embroidery  and  other  fine  im- 
ported material — such  as  laces,  fine  muslins,  nainsooks,  etc. — used 
in  all  such  work,  and  as  we  have  to  give  to  the  government  and 
to  the  fetich  of  protection  four  yards  of  these  for  every  ten  yards 
used,  of  course  this  whole  trade  falls  to  the  ground. 

The  subdivision  of  labor  in  this  branch  of  industrv,  it  will  be 
readily  understood,  is  practised  to  the  minutest  details.  The  in- 
vention of  new  machinery  and  improved  appliances  is  about  as 
rapid  as  the  American  manufacturer  is  quick  to  discard  his  old 
machines  and  make  room  for  the  new  better  thing,  if  it  materially 
cheapens  the  product.  The  Pacific  Tucking  Company  own  a 
machine  arrangement  by  which  they  can  do  tucking  at  a  far  lower 
rate  than  manufacturers  can  do  it  in  their  own  steam-power  fac- 
tories. The  consequence  is  that  every  manufacturer  sends  his 
material  to  the  company's  factory,  to  have  his  tucking  done  there 
at  the  very  small  price  of  twenty-five  cents  for  a  hundred  yards, 
including  cotton  for  sewing  and  manufacturer's  profit. 

Of  course  the  efficiency  of  an  operator  counts  for  a  great  deal. 
The  highest  earnings  at  the  same  rates  by  the  piece  are  made  by 
those  who  turn  out  the  best  and  neatest  work.  Their  work  needs 
no  mending  or  overhauling.  They  are  the  most  profitable  to  the 
employer,  and  no  manufacturer  who  understands  his  business 
would  not  rather  have  fifty  operators  who  earn  $io  than  loo  op- 
erators who  earn  $5  a  week.  Nor  would  he  grudge  them  their 
earnings,  because  they  are  the  cheapest  to  him  in  the  end,  as  is 
very  apparent  : 

1.  From  the  saving  of  machinery  and  space, 

2.  From  the  saving  in  expense  of  superintendence  and  examina- 
tion, and, 

3.  From  the  better  work,  assuring  a  higher  selling  price  for  the 
product. 

The  difficulty  is  not  so  much  in  the  insufficient  earnings  to  afford 
a  decent  living  to  our  working  classes,  as  in  the  short  time  and 


63 

lack  of  employment.  The  half-time,  the  weeks  without  work 
which  follow  a  few  months  of  extreme  activity  in  each  season, 
are  equally  dreaded  by  the  employers  and  employed.  Larger 
markets  would  be  a  great  relief  to  botl:.  They  would  add  so  many 
additional  weeks  in  the  year's  earnings,  without  in  the  least  neces- 
sitating any  deduction  of  the  operators'  pay  by  the  week  or  by  the 
piece. 

The  question  may  be  raised  whether  our  foreign  competitors 
may  not  possess  the  same  means  and  labor-saving  tools.  To  this 
there  is  a  twofold  answer  :  First,  it  does  not  appear  that  when 
machinery  is  used,  it  is  made  to  yield  the  same  results  ;  and,  sec- 
ondly, many  of  our  most  advantageous  appliances  and  machines 
are  entirely  unknown  to  them,  as  evidenced  by  the  imported  fabrics 
of  foreign  manufacture. 

An  American  manufacturer  of  knit  shirts  and  drawers  has  lately 
returned  from  a  European  trip.  He  found  no  difficulty  in  making 
a  market  for  his  goods  in  London.  Of  course  this  only  applies 
to  cotton  goods,  or  goods  with  a  very  slight  admixture  of  a  cheap 
wool  ;  tlie  higher  wool  grades  would  be  excluded  by  virtue  of  the 
wool  tax.  He  found  by  comparison  that  one  of  his  operators  on  a 
cylindrical  knitting  machine  turns  out  about  as  much  work  as 
four  machines  in  Chemnitz,  Saxony.  "Of  course,"  he  said,  "I 
can  afford  to  pay  my  operators  a  dollar  against  the  twenty  to 
thirty  cents  a  girl  gets  in  Chemnitz." 

The  improvements  we  are  making  in  every  kind  of  machinery 
would  be  a  very  interesting  topic,  but  would  lead  me  to  occupy 
more  space  than  I  intend  giving  to  this  subject  at  present,  but 
explains  fully  how  our  operators  can  make  comparatively  high 
earnings  coupled  with  low  labor  cost. 

1  will  describe  one  machine  of  American  invention  to  illustrate 
this  fully.  Ladies'  cloaks  of  plush,  velvet,  damassee,  etc.,  lined 
with  quilted  satin,  have  been  very  fashionable  for  the  last  few 
years.  I  have  examined  a  great  many  imported  garments  of  this 
kind,  mostly  of  Berlin  manufacture.  I  have  examined  the  linings 
and  found  them  all  quilted  with  the  sewing-machine  of  a  single 
needle.  We,  on  the  contrary,  use  quilting  machines,  driven  by 
steam-power,  which  are  able  to  quilt  the  material,  of  from  eighteen 
to  thirty-six  inches  in  width,  right  through.     The    machine  has 


64 

seventy-two  needles,  which  all  operate  at  the  same  time,  and  can 
do  the  work  in  diamond,  zigzag,  wavy  line,  or  escallop  patterns. 
In  a  yard  of  thirty-six-inch  quilting  are  about  one  hundred  yards 
of  stitching,  counting  the  exact  space  over  which  the  stitches  run. 
So  far  as  the  direct  labor  cost  of  this  work  is  concerned,  it  is  not 
more  than  four  fifths  of  a  cent,  as  one  operator  can  do  a  thousand 
yards  a  week  at  a  salary  of  eight  dollars.  Imagine  how  long  it 
would  take  a  single-needle  machine  operator  in  Berlin  to  turn  out 
a  thousand  yards  of  quilting,  and  how  much  it  would  cost  even  at 
the  low  wages  of  one  mark  or  twenty-four  cents  a  day  ;  our  work, 
besides  greater  cheapness,  having  the  merit  of  much  greater  regu- 
larity and  beauty. 

The  machine  described  here  does  the  work   on    the   running 
length  of  the  cloth.     It  would  not  be  appliable  to  the  quilting  of 
petticoats,  which  are  cut  in  gores  to  form  a  conical-shaped  skirt. 
Another  American  invention,  not  used  in  Europe  either,  supplies 
this  want.     It  is   a  quilting  machine,  where  as  many  as  thirty 
needles,  simultaneously  sewing,  are  set  so  that  the  size  of  the  upper 
stitch  is  smaller  than  the  lower  stitch,  so  that  the  quilting  comes 
out  in  perfect  proportion  all  the  way  up  to  the  end  of  the  pattern. 
In  this  way  a  rounding  is  formed  in  conformity  with  the  shape  of 
the  skirt.     Sewing  cotton,  wadding,  etc.,  included,  this  work  costs 
from  $1  to  $3  a  dozen  according  to  the  depth  of  the  work.     In  the 
highest-cost  pattern  are  thirty  lines  of  quilting,  equal  to  sixty  lines 
of  straight  sewing.    As  there  are  thirty  yards  of  straight  sewing  in  a 
dozen  skirts,  there  are  nearly  eighteen  hundred  yards  of  sewing  for 
less  than  $2,  or  ten  yards  of  single  sewing  for  less  than  one  cent. 
Through  the  inventive  spirit  of  our  people  difficulties  are  over- 
come which  at  first  sight  seem  almost  insurmountable. 

Another  machine  of  American  invention,  of  even  greater  im- 
portance in  the  matter  of  dress  manufacture  both  for  men  and 
women,  is  the  button-hole  machine.  Even  this  is  not  known  in 
Europe,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  many  cheap  garments  imported 
from  Berlin.  If  anywhere,  it  might  find  employment  there  in 
ladies'  cloaks  and  jersey  waists,  exported  in  large  quantities  to 
America.  But  all  button-holes  which  I  have  seen  in  imported  gar- 
ments are  hand-made,  and  as  to  that,  mostly  very  poorly  made. 
American-made  button-holes  are  all  machine-made  and  generally 


65 

very  solid  and  closely  worked.  The  price  by  the  piece  is  very 
low.  For  a  good-sized  button-hole,  including  the  sewing  silk,  wc- 
pay  now  forty  cents  a  hundred.  A  very  recent  invention  is  a 
button-hole  machine  which  automatically  marks  and  cuts  the  but- 
ton-hole, and  which  can  do  the  whole  work,  including  the  silk,  for 
twenty  cents  a  hundred  button-holes.  At  this  rate  it  would  be  a 
very  difficult  task  for  a  Berlin  hand  button-hole  maker  to  compete 
at  one  mark,  or  twenty-four  cents,  a  day  with  an  American  but- 
tonhole maker  at  $1.25  to  $1.50  a  day.  Of  not  less  importance 
and  ingenuity  are  machines  which  sew  on  buttons  or  stitch  eye- 
lets, etc. 

But  this  might  be  followed  ad  infiiiiiiim,  were  it  my  object  to 
write  a  history  of  labor  instead  of  pointing  out  the  difference  in 
the  methods  and  the  relative  productiveness  of  labor  in  competing 
nations.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  have  sufficiently  demonstrated  the 
point,  that  ou^  labor  cost  is  relatively  cheaper,  our  productiveness 
greater,  than  \hat  of  other  countries,  and  that  price  differences 
against  us  ar*?  oot  in  the  labor  cost,  but  in  that  of  the  material. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IRON      AND      STEEL. 

No  review  of  the  industries  of  our  country  would  be  com- 
plete without  an  inquiry  into  our  position  in  the  world  of  iron  and 
steel.  Here  more  than  anywhere  else  the  productive  methods  and 
other  intermediate  opportunities  are  of  far  greater  importance  as 
price-makers  than  the  accidental  amount  of  wages  paid  here  or 
there  as  compensation  for  a  day  of  labor.  And  yet  if  we  were  to 
judge  of  the  relative  positions  from  official  data,  we  should  have 
little  else  to  stand  upon  than  the  often  repeated  quotations  of  the 
weekly  or  yearly  earnings,  the  kind  of  food  consumed  by  the 
working  classes,  etc.,  etc.  For  any  thing  directly  relating  to  the 
composition  of  prices  of  the  product  of  labor,  we  should  be  not  wiser 
than  before  examining  the  contents  of  the  blue  books.  Fortunately, 
however,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  outside  information  on  this  great 
question  of  the  price  regulator  of  iron,  by  far  the  most  valuable  of 
all  metals,  especially  so  in  the  cruder  forms  of  iron  and  of  steel. 

So  far  as  the  metal  is  concerned,  in  its  last  stage  of  finish  and 
usefulness  to  man  little  need  be  said.  It  is  sufficient  that  we  have 
conquered  the  world's  markets  for  our  clocks,  our  sewing-ma- 
chines, our  agricultural  machines,  and  motors  of  all  kinds,  loco- 
motives, engines,  hardware,  tools,  etc.,  etc.  On  the  materials 
which  we  consume  in  the  construction  of  these  articles  we  have 
to  pay  duties,  if  they  are  imported,  ranging  from  45  to  75  per 
cent.  The  materials  of  American  production  even  now  under 
the  great  depression  in  the  iron  and  steel  industries,  are  25  to 
33  per  cent,  higher  than  in  England  or  Germany.  We  pay  our 
help  twice  and  three  times  the  weekly  and,  when  fully  employed, 
yearly  wages  paid  in  Germany,  and  still  we  invade  their  own 
country  of  cheap  labor.  The  further  our  manufactures  are  re- 
moved from  the  crude  material  and  fabric,  the  more  labor  is 
put  mto  the  work,  the  easier  is  the  contest  and  victory  for  us. 
How  we  do  it  is  too  well  known  to  an  American  reader  to  require 

66 


67 

long  explanation.  We  build  machines  to  do  the  work  which  in 
cheap-labor  countries  is  mostly  done  by  hand  or  with  primitive 
tools,  or  with  tools  and  machines  slowly  progressing  to  a  higher 
stage.  We  construct  special  machines  for  each  part  of  a  new  ma- 
chine, or  a  tool,  or  a  fire-arm,  as  soon  as  we  find  out  that  there  may 
be  demand  enough  to  promise  a  return  of,  and  a  profit  on,  the 
outlav.  It  can  never  more  be  a  question  of  how  we  can  control 
the  home  market.  This  could  not  be  wrenched  from  us  any  more 
than  our  home  market  in  wheat  by  German  or  British  wheat. 
The  question  is  how  to  extend  our  foreign  market,  how  to  give 
increased  employment  to  our  machine-shops  and  foundries.  No 
reduction  of  wages  would  be  required,  as  we  are  now  able  to 
compete  with  the  world  under  the  great  oppression  of  higher 
iron  and  steel  prices.  What  we  need  is  simply  a  reduction  in 
the  prices  of  crude  iron  to  the  basis  of  foreign  iron  prices,  as 
nearly  as  can  be  expected  from  our  position  as  producers  of 
pig-iron,  on  which  point  I  shall  treat  in  another  chapter.  These 
higher  prices  of  the  crude  and  raw  material  are  now  matters  of 
much  graver  importance  than  at  the  time  when  we  had  not  suffi- 
ciently advanced  in  manufacturing  industries  to  supply  our  own 
wants.  Then  it  was  simply  a  question  with  us  whether  we  should 
find  it  good  economy  to  tax  Peter  to  pay  Paul.  But  now,  when 
our  productive  capacity  has  outgrown  our  own  markets,  when  we 
produce  in  nine  months  what  we  can  barely  consume  in  a  year, 
then  we  can  safely  say  that  any  measure  increasing  the  cost  of  ma- 
terials beyond  their  normal  price  is  taxing  Peter  and  robbing  Paul. 
When  we  have  arrived  at  such  a  stage  of  our  history,  then  such 
a  tax  system  ceases  to  be  "protection,"  and  begins  to  be  a  direct 
tax  upon  labor  and  capital — upon  labor  and  the  laborer's  earnings, 
pure  and  simple. 

HOW  OUR  PRICES  COMPARE  WITH  FOREIGN  PRICES. 

That  the  tax  on  the  cruder  forms  of  iron  is  a  burden  upon  our 
industries,  will  be  contested  by  few.  Even  the  very  pets  of  pro- 
tection, the  Bessemer-steel  producers,  will  admit  it,  not  volun- 
tarily to  be  sure,  but  when  confronted  by  figures.  It  would  be 
too  inconsistent  to  admit  now  that  they  could  do  without  protec- 
tive tariffs,  when  two  years  ago  they  grew  frantic  and  saw  destruc- 


68 

tion  and  ruin  in  the  work  of  Congress  reducing  the  duty  from  $28 
to  $17.  But  what  is  the  condition  to-day  ?  The  British  price  of 
Bessemer-steel  rails  is  ^4  155.,  or  $22.75,  ^^^^  "^^  board.  The 
American  price  on  board  cars  at  the  mill  has  been  as  low  as  $26, 
a  difference  of  from  $3  to  $4  a  ton. 

Sure,  it  would  cost  this  much  alone  in  freight  and  commission 
to  land  a  ion  of  English  rails  and  lay  them  down  on  the  wharf 
in  New  York,  even  under  most  depressed  freight  rates,  if  there 
were  not  a  cent  of  duty  to  be  paid.  But  in  slavish  subser- 
viency to  the  fetich  of  protection,  the  owner  of  the  steel-works 
insists  on  the  continuation  of  the  present  system  of  tariff  taxation, 
and  he  willingly  submits  to  the  differences  against  himself  as  com- 
pared to  the  charges  of  the  foreign  producers,  as  will  be  seen  from 
this  balance-sheet  :  For  the  production  of  a  ton  of  Bessemer  steel 
it  takes  about  i^  tons  of  iron,  according  to  our  Census  report. 
This  includes  Spiegel-eisen,  which  has  to  be  imported,  and  pays  a 
duty  of  $672  a  ton.  But  as  not  more  than  about  ^\  of  Spiegel- 
iron  is  used,  we  will  call  all  the  iron  pig-iron.  Now  the  present 
price  of  Scotch  pig-iron  is  ^2  2s.,  or  $10.50,  a  ton,  while  the 
cheapest  grade  of  American  iron  could  not  be  brought  to  the  Bes- 
semer converter  for  less  than  $16  a  ton.  At  i^  tons  at  $5.50, 
or  i^  tons,  according  to  Mr.  J.  Lowthian  Bell  in  Iron  and  Steel, 
there  would  be  a  charge  of  $6.60  against  the  American  manufac- 
turer for  iron  and  50  cents  for  his  fuel,  if  the  works  are  well  situ- 
ated, or  in  all  $7.10,  in  favor  of  the  foreign  works. 

Were  our  raw  iron  as  cheap  as  it  is  to  the  foreign  steel-maker, 
we  could  certainly  produce  Bessemer  steel  at  $20  a  ton,  and  un- 
dersell Great  Britain  or  Germany  by  three  to  four  dollars,  and 
be  just  as  well  off  as  under  present  conditions,  when  we  have  to 
bear  an  extra  charge  of  $7.10  on  our  materials. 

Under  this  condition  of  affairs,  as  illustrated  by  the  hard,  irre- 
pressible facts  of  indisputable  prices,  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time 
and  effort  to  discuss  with  our  protectionists  their  stock  argument 
of  the  higher  rate  of  wages.  True,  the  rate  of  wages  is  higher, 
the  earnings  are  higher,  but  the  product  is  cheaper  than  anywhere 
in  the  world,  if  the  higher  cost  of  the  material  is  eliminated  from 
the  computation  of  prices.  This  is  conclusively  proven  by  the 
above,  and  needs  no  further  comment. 


69 

Ably  supported  by  our  protectionists,  who  insist,  as  a  ground- 
work of  national  ])rosperity,  upon  the  necessity  of  an  even  taxing 
all  around,  and  thus  jirevent  us  from  sending  our  steel  rails  to 
South  and  North  American  countries,  the  English  and  Continental 
steel-makers  have  entered  into  an  agreement  not  to  sell  their  rails 
below  a  certain  price.  They  were  compelled  to  this  by  ihe  ruin- 
ous comjietition  which  liad  forced  the  j^rice  down  to  ^4  5^.,  a 
figure  slightly  above  the  one  at  which  we  are  selling  rails  now  in 
protected  America  (the  material  being  calculated  on  the  basis  of 
the  foreign  material  cost). 

The  London  Ecofioinisf,  in  its  trade  review  of  18S4,  says  on  this 
topic  :  "  Under  the  influence  of  severe  competition  the  price  of 
steel  rails  was  forced  to  about  ^'4  per  ton  (^^4  55.  being  the 
lowest  reported  quotation)  in  the  month  of  January,  and  immedi- 
ately thereafter  an  arrangement  was  come  to  among  the  principal 
makers  of  this  country  and  the  Continent  by  whicli  tlie  price  was 
advanced  from  ;^ 4  i^s.  to  ^5  e^s.,  with  an  understanding  that  the 
orders  received  were  to  be  apportioned  among  the  different 
makers.  So  far  this  arrangement  appears  to  have  worked  satis- 
factorily, although  the  volume  of  business  has  been  small,  and  it  is 
no  secret  that  some  large  buyers  are  holding  back  in  the  hope  that 
this  combination  may  be  broken  through,  and  it  is  certain  the 
advance  in  price  must  have  tended  to  restrict  business."  We 
might  as  well  have  our  share  in  this  parcelling  out  of  the  trade  of 
the  world  in  steel  rails,  or,  by  a  sort  of  Battle  of  Dorking,  not 
dreamed  of  when  the  book  of  that  name  was  written,  force  in  open 
competition  the  trade  of  the  Continent. 

Our  preventive  tariff,  however,  insists  that  we  shall  not  send 
our  steel  abroad  when  half  our  steel-works  are  idle,  and  when, 
without  any  tariff,  not  a  ton  of  rails  could  be  landed  here  even  if 
the  price  of  foreign  rails  were  ;£^,  or  ^3  to  $5  less  than  the 
present  European  combination  price. 

THE    INROADS    WHICH    STEEL     IS     MAKING     IN     THE     PUDDLE-IRON 

INDUSTRY. 

The  changes  which  are  constantly  going  on  in  the  world  of  iron 
and  steel  are  of  a  nature  which  would  hardly  permit  using  figures 
of  prices  and  of  methods  of  two  or  three  years  ago  for  arguments 


70 

or  conclusions  of  to-day.  An  invention,  an  improvement,  thought 
out  in  the  quiet  study  of  the  scientist,  is  apt  to  throw  out  of  work 
and  earnings  thousands  of  helpless  and  industrious  workers,  to 
confiscate  or  make  worthless  millions  and  tens  of  millions  of 
capital,  and  bankrupt  and  wreck  a  life-time  of  anxious,  intelligent 
leadership.  Such  a  change  has  taken  place  and  is  taking  place  in 
the  iron  trade.  The  rapidity  with  which  improvement  follows  im- 
provement in  the  process  of  manufacturing  steel  by  the  Bessemer, 
open  hearth,  and  other  processes,  almost  defies  recording.  The 
iron  puddler  is  especially  suffering  from  this  inroad,  and  when  we 
examine  the  rapid  advance  in  the  production  of  steel,  coupled 
with  a  great  decline  in  prices,  we  can  well  imagine  that  great  dis- 
placement must  run  parallel  with  this  extension,  and  that  a  decline 
in  the  iron  industry  cannot  be  attributed  to  foreign  competition, 
but  must  be  sought  in  the  inroads  of  science  and  thought  upon  the 
domain  of  action  and  matter.  Now,  in  this  realm,  no  country  can 
wrest  the  laurel  from  America.  If  once  placed  on  an  even  foot- 
ing with  her  competitors,  she  will  be  the  arbiter  of  the  world's 
markets. 

TABLE    SHOWING    THE    NUMBER    OF    TONS   OF    BESSEMER  AND    BASIC 
STEEL  PRODUCED  BY  AMERICA,  GREAT  BRITAIN,   AND  GERMANY. 


Bessemer  SieeL 

Basic  Steel. 

America. 

Great  Britain. 

Germany. 

1884 

1,538,355 

1,300,000 

1883  . 

1,654,627 

1,553  3S0 

970,000 

I8S2  . 

1,696,450 

1,673,000 

993,000 

I88I  . 

1,374,000 

1,780,000 

865,000 

1880  . 

983,000 

1873  . 

732.000 

IS76  . 

526,000 

' 

1874 . 

192,000 

1872  . 

120,000 

500,000 

New  employments,   for   which  puddled   iron   has   been   in   use 
formerly,  are  found  daily  for  steel. 

"Iron   rails  have  been    displaced  by  those  of   steel,  and   the 


, 


puddling  furnaces  thus  laid  idle  have  found  employment  in  fur- 
nishing plates  for  shipbuilders.  But,  whereas,  in  1877  the  tonnage 
of  vessels  built  of  steel  was  1,1  iS,  in  18S1  it  had  risen  to  71,538. 
Has  the  jjuddler  before  long  to  see  his  occupation  in  connection 
with  shipbuilding  follow  the  example  of  the  rail  trade  ?  .  .  . 
And  many  other,  we  may  say  most  other,  trades  for  which 
puddled  iron  is  now  used,  in  the  course  of  time  will  be  supplied 
from  the  Bessemer  converter  or  from  the  open-hearth  furnaces." 
(J.  Lowthian  Bell,  in  Iron  and  Steel.) 

In  America  the  iron  nail  is  beginning  to  be  displaced  by  the 
steel  nail,  which  can  be  made  as  cheaply  as  the  iron  nail.  So  will 
a  great  many  other  industries,  fence-wire  making,  structural  iron, 
etc.,  follow  suit,  and  gradually  the  age  of  iron  will  be  gliding  into 
an  age  of  steel.  The  greater  durability  of  steel  would  alone 
suffice  to  make  it  preferable  to  iron,  when  once  we  have  adapted 
our  mills  to  its  production  and  transformation.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  decline  of  consumption  to  be  expected  from  this  greater 
durability  of  steel.  This,  again,  will  be  balanced,  after  perhaps 
some  transitory  suffering,  by  the  more  extended  use  found  for 
steel  than  heretofore  for  iron — steel  sleepers  for  railroad  building 
being  one  of  the  new  uses,  for  instance.  Many  others  will  follow, 
and  finaily,  I  may  venture  to  say,  steel  will  perhaps  become  a  very 
formidable  opponent  of  our  lumbermen,  and  prove  a  very  benefi- 
cent factor  in  the  preservation  of  our  forests. 

A  TAX    UPON    THE    MATERIAL    IS  A   TAX    UPON   WORK    AND    WAGES. 

The  present  low  prices  of  iron  and  steel  prove  fully  that  our 
manufacturers  and  workmen  need  not  fear  foreign  competition, 
not  under  severe  pressure  from  equally  depressed  markets  in 
Europe,  had  we  free  trade  in  all  forms  of  iron.  Our  greatest 
pressure  upon  profit  and  wages  is  sustained  from  home  compe- 
tition in  markets  limited  to  the  home  demand. 

I  will  show  the  disproportion  of  tariff  charges  upon  iron  prices 
of  to-day,  when  comparing  them  to  foreign  prices,  and  taking  $3 
as  a  sum  covering  freight  and  charges  under  very  lowest  freight 
rates  of  dull  markets.  The  prices  are  the  lowest  quotations  of 
the  year. 


72 


Lowest 
Amer.  price 

English 

Ft. 

Duty. 

English 
))nce  in 

of  1885. 

New  York. 

Bessemer  steel,  ton 

$26  00 

$23   00 

$3  CO 

$17   00 

$43  00 

Bar    iron,    medium 

Staffordshire,  £b 

to  £,b  lo 

30  00 

3  00 

20  00  ' 

53  00 

American,  i^^fftoi* 

cents  a  pound  . 

39   20 

Scotch  pi>;-iron   . 

10   50 

2  00 

6  72 

ig  22 

American  No.  2  . 

$17  to  $18 

•        No.  3. 

S16  toSl7 

Gray  Forge  iron  . 

$15  00 

Now  I  will  also  show  the  differences  between  American  and 
British  iron  and  steel  prices,  if  the  difference  in  the  prices  of  the 
material  entering  into  each  ton  of  product  is  deducted  from  the 
cost  : 


c 

V4 

1 

v.    I      1     1 

iH 

0  0 
^  c 
vt  0 

0 
(0 

0  t£ 

^  c     .       1 

2  "ii  S 

c  0 

3 

0  — 

0  a 

0 
0 

0     .2 

u   i-    ^ 

'•'  u  0 

bc^.^-^ 

"=■3 

11 

•a 

"S  0  g 

k.  —  0  S  oi 

<u  „  -  —  u 

«  H 

Ul  c 

Sitr 

0  u 

I-    3 

£;o-g 

—  ^  —  -  ii 

§2 

0  -^ 

|-a 

C 

1^  ^;i^ 
c 

g  0  ■  -  -a  « 

In  one  ton  of  Besse- 

1 

mer  steel    . 

li 

2 

$6  60 

$0     50 

$7    ID 

-$4   10 

In  one  ton  of  finished 

bar  iron     . 

^\ 

2 

6  18 

I      50 

7  63 

+  1    52 

One   ton  of   pig-iron 

+  6  00 

i 


The  nearer  we  come  to  the  cruder  forms,  pig-iron,  the  nearer  is 
the  price  to  the  foreign  price  inclusive  of  duty  and  freight.  The 
difference  here  is  barely  $2  between  the  duty-paid  price  of  foreign 
pig-iron  and  American  pig-iron,  while  in  bar  iron  there  is  a  differ- 
ence of  $14,  and  in  steel  rails  of  $17,  in  our  favor  against  the 
foreign  duty-paid  price  ;  both  of  these,  however,  have  to  pay  %1 
more  for  their  pig-iron  than  the  Scotch  or  English  puddling  iron- 
men  and  steel-makers  have  to  pay. 

Most  of  our  iron-men  would  object  to  a  lowering  of  duties. 

'  This  is  the  average  ;  the  rates  are  from  ^"5  to  ^iV  cents  a  pound. 


73 

They  will  say,  if  steel  or  higher  grades  of  iron  are  nearly  as  cheap 
as  foreign  iron,  we  may  be  content  and  leave  well  enough  alone  and 
keep  foreign  iron  out  forever.  'I'licy  think  of  the  golden  harvest 
of  1S79  to  18S1,  when  prices  JLim[)cd  up  from  the  lowest  rates  to 
the  extent  of  the  full  duty  and  highest  freight  rate,  a  clear  100 
per  cent,  over  i)revious  jjrices.  And  this  is  undoubtedly  the  real 
cause  of  their  persistent  opposition  to  a  thorougli  tariff  reform. 
Such  violent  fluctuations  and  changes  may  be  very  pleasing  to 
the  iron-men,  but  are  sources  of  great  annoyance  and  loss  to  all 
the  multitude  of  trades  and  manufactures  who  are  dependent  on 
these  cruder  forms  as  their  material  of  manufacture.  Every  ex- 
porter and  export  manufacturer  knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  form 
and  maintain  foreign  connections  on  account  of  these  fluctuations 
in  the  price  of  our  raw  materials.  Many  very  profitable  connec- 
tions established  in  the  years  of  1875  to  1879  were  lost  in  the 
boom  years,  and  had  to  be  made  over  again  after  the  boom  had 
spent  its  force  and  when  foreign  trade  was  again  considered  good 
enough  to  help  us  out  in  our  depression. 

Staple  prices  may  not  build  up  fortunes  very  rapidly,  but  they 
are  a  necessary  foundation  to  a  solid  i)rosperity,  and  more  apt  to 
give  us  lasting  happiness  and  contentment  than  the  big  fortunes, 
lost  almost  as  quickly  as  they  are  made.  Any  one  who  knows 
any  thing  of  the  real  nature  and  composition  of  prices  must  be 
aware  that  prices  have  always  to  fall  back  upon  their  true  level, 
and  that  a  rapid  rise  will  be  followed  by  a  violent  fall. 

Price  regulation  cannot  be  maintained  under  the  free  play  of  com- 
petitive forces. 

Now,  to  counteract  these  natural  conditions,  combinations  to 
hold  up  prices  are  resorted  to  by  the  steel-makers.  They  resolve 
to  limit  the  output  and  distribute  production  pro  rata  among  the 
different  plants.  But  wdien  limited  demand  closes  accustomed 
markets,  decreased  production  follows  as  a  natural  consequence, 
combination  or  no  combination.  But  still  every  one  strives  for 
the  greatest  share  of  possible  business.  Price  regulation  in 
times  of  depression  is  therefore  easier  ordained  than  maintained. 
Besides  this,  new  factors  will  always  come  into  play  which 
will    overthrow   the   finest    schemes    and    machinations    of    the 


74 

combining  forces.  So,  for  instance,  among  all  forms  of  iron 
steel  is  beginning  to  crowd  out  iron  more  and  more,  as  has  been 
said  above.  This  is  made  very  apparent  by  the  last  statement  of 
the  American  Iron  and  Steel  Association.  While  all  other  iron 
branches  report  a  lessened  production,  the  product  of  the  first 
half  of  1SS5  was  763,000  tons  of  Bessemer-steel  ingots,  an  in- 
crease of  40,000  over  the  first  six  months  of  1884.  The  ])roduc- 
tion  of  steel  rails  for  the  same  two  periods  however  were  523,251 
against  452,446  tons,  a  falling  off  of  70,000  tons.  The  difference 
went  into  other  manufactures  for  which  puddled  iron  had  been 
used  formerly,  bars,  plates,  nails,  etc.  In  all  300,000  tons  went 
into  other  uses  than  rails  from  a  six-months'  production.  This 
new  use  has  been  of  recent  date  and  of  constant  growth.  During 
the  last  half  of  1SS4  the  excess  of  the  amount  of  ingots  produced 
over  the  amount  of  rails  was  2co,coo  tons,  or  100,000  tons  less 
than  the  difference  in  production  during  the  first  half  of  the 
present  year,  a  fact  which  shows  the  growing  demand  for  Bessemer 
steel  for  purposes  other  than  rails.  All  this  ought  to  have  assisted 
in  maintaining  prices,  but  instead  of  this,  they  have  been  declining 
to  the  time  the  combination  was  formed.  But  even  this  powerful 
organization  will  not  be  able  to  do  more  than  pass  resolutions,  so 
long  as  the  demand  is  not  great  enough  to  justify  an  advance. 
The  present  advance  is  only  nominal,  and  large  contractors  could 
easily  place  contracts  at  old  prices.  All  this  in  consequence  of 
more  works  being  in  operation,  all  eager  to  keep  running,  than 
even  the  newly  created  demand  can  find  employment  for.  Com- 
binations of  this  sort  are  like  combinations  of  railroad  lines  in 
times  of  decreasing  business  demands,  they  are  broken  by  the 
contracting  parties  as  soon  as  made.  They  are  made  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  broken,  each  one  thinking  the  others  will  adhere  to 
the  bargain,  and  he  deriving  increased  business  from  a  concession. 
This  is  the  unalterable  result  of  business  depression.  The  reverse, 
of  course,  follows  times  of  increased  activity. 

But  another  and  far  more  powerful  factor  is  the  other  point  at 
work  in  price  reduction,  alluded  to  before — /.  e.,  the  influence 
of  the  mind — that  is,  of  new  inventions,  on  price-making.  A  new 
process  of  steel-making,  the  Clapp-Griffith,  is  coming  into  use, 
which  seems  to  revolutionize  the  steel  trade  the  same  as  the  new 


75 

steel-making  process  has  neutralized  a  good  share  of  the  existing 
iron  plant.  Aside  of  the  cheaper  cost  of  erection,  this  new  process 
has  the  great  advantage  by  removing  with  great  ease  the  silicon,  to 
enable  the  use  of  our  Southern  and  other  cheap  American  ores  for 
steel-making.  It  is  calculated  that  the  cost  of  converting  pig-iron 
into  steel  at  the  blast  furnace  is  three  to  four  dollars  a  ton.  Un- 
der such  circumstances  it  will  be  readily  admitted  that  there  is 
not  much  room  for  kite-flying  in  prices.  Open  markets  for  our 
products  would  be  a  far  more  powerful  stimulant  to  prosperity 
than  anxious,  timid  exclusion.  Open  markets  would  give  more 
expansion  to  the  labor  and  profit  share  in  the  product,  than  even 
sanguine  observers  imagine. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PIG-IRON THE    COMPETITIVE    ASPECT    OF    ITS    PRODUCTION. 

Pig-iron  holds  to-day  the  key  to  the  whole  situation.  For  the 
last  twenty  years  pig-iron  was  king.  Pig-iron  rules  as  completely 
our  national  destiny  as  cotton  was  in  supreme  control  of  our  gov- 
ernment before  the  war  of  secession.  The  claims  of  pig-iron 
have  always  been  of  tlie  most  pretentious  kind.  It  has  always 
been  considered  a  kind  of  sacrilege  to  inquire  into  the  validity  of 
these  claims.  I  have  therefore  endeavored  to  bring  under  com- 
parison the  territorial  and  other  influences  bearing  on  the  produc- 
tion of  pig-iron  here  as  well  as  abroad. 

The  principal  reason  advanced  for  the  maintenance  of  the  high 
duties  on  foreign  iron  has  been  the  labor  cost.  It  has  been  held 
that  we  can  never  make  iron  as  cheaply  as  other  nations.  That 
we  have  not  been  able  in  the  past,  is  indisputably  in  evidence. 
That  we  are  making  as  cheap  iron  now  in  Alabama  as  can  be 
made  anywhere  in  England  or  Germ.any,  is  a  complete  refutation 
of  the  plea  of  the  higher  labor  cost  against  us  in  the  production 
of  iron.  The  direct  labor  cost  per  ton  of  pig-iron  has  always 
been  so  small  a  percentage  of  the  whole  cost  of  iron,  that  it  ought 
to  have  been  apparent  from  the  beginning  of  the  controversy  that 
there  were  entirely  different  causes  to  account  for  this  higher 
price  than  direct  labor  cost  at  the  furnace  or  at  the  mines.  This 
labor  cost  is  a  given  quantity  at  both  ends  of  the  line  here  and 
abroad,  easily  traceable,  and  a  comparison  will  show  that  the  dif- 
ferences, if  any  do  exist,  are  of  so  trifling  a  nature  that  they  would 
be  more  than  balanced  by  transportation  expenses  and  charges  on 
foreign  iron  at  ever  so  low  a  freight  rate.  But  at  the  present  time 
even  this  price  difference  of  labor  does  not  exist. 

Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt  informs  me  that  at  the  works  of  his  firm 
the  present  actual  outlay  for  labor  in  a  ton  of  pig-iron  is  $1.40, 
without  any  allowance  for  incidental  expenses.     The  report  of  the 

76 


77 

Bureau  of  Statistics  of  1872,  page  539,  gives  the  cost  of  pig-iron 
production  in  the  United  States  from  1850  to  1871.  Omiliing 
the  years  of  inllation  we  have  the  following  data  for  labor  :  1850, 
$2.22;  1S60,  Si-S?  ;  iSCi,$i.97;  1863,  S2.07  ;  from  then  pro- 
gressively rising  until  the  maximum  was  reached  in  1873  at  S5.11. 
But  this  rising  scale  was  proportionate  to  a  general  rise  in  pig-iron 
both  as  to  selling  price  and  wages  all  over  the  world  ;  Scotch  pig- 
iron  being  quoted  in  England  with  average  wages  of  miners : 

Price  of  Scotcii  pig-iron.  Miners'  wages. 

Ini86oat    53s.  6d.,  or  $12.87,         per  day  at  3s.    6d.,or$.84 
In  1873  at  117s.  3d.,  or    28. 12,  per  day  at  93.  iid.,  or    2.38 

But  how  does  the  labor  cost  of  the  present  time  on  pig-iron 
compare  to  that  of  foreign  low-priced  labor  ?  The  daily  average 
wages  of  men  employed  at  the  blast  furnaces  in  Rhenish  Prussia 
in  187S,  were  2s.  ^\d.,  or  63c.  Mr.  J.  Lothian  Bell,  in  "  Manu- 
facture of  Iron  and  Steel,"  gives  an  account  of  a  blast  furnace  in 
Rhenish  Prussia,  which  is  worked  by  117  men,  who  were  paid 
collectively  ^^5,581,  or  ^47  14^-.  per  head,  or  $228.96.  Their 
average  yearly  production  for  that  year  is  given  as  132^  tons, 
which  makes  the  labor  cost  per  ton  come  up  to  $1.66. 

Speaking  of  the  output  of  German  furnaces,  Mr.  Lowthian  Bell 
may  be  quoted.  He  says  in  this  connection  :  "  None  of  these 
figures,  however,  are  any  approach  to  what  is  done  by  the  work- 
men at  the  Cleveland  furnaces,  and  illustrates  what  has  been 
already  observed  in  these  pages,  that  well-paid  and  well-fed  men 
are  not  always  more  expensive  to  the  employer  than  badly-paid 
labor.  As  a  matter  of  fact  I  have  rarely  found  the  wages  on  a 
ton  of  the  furnace  produce  to  amount  to  less  than  what  I  have 
found  it  to  be  in  Cleveland."  For  every  20^.  earned  by  blast 
furnacemen  in  the  Cleveland  iron  district,  Mr.  Bell  found  the 
earnings  in  Westphalian  iron-works  to  be  from   \2S.  to   13^.-. 

For  Birmingham,  Ala.,  the  labor  cost  of  producing. a  ton  of  iron 
was  given  to  me  by  Mr.  Lindley  Vinton,  President  of  the  Vinton 
Iron-Works,  at  Indianapolis,  who  had  just  returned  from  a  trip  to 
the  Southern  iron  district,  as  $1.66  a  ton  at  the  Sloss  furnace  at 
Birmingham,  Ala.  This  is  a  general  estimate  of  the  cost.  The 
men  working  at  the  furnace,  are  paid  from   75   cents  to  %\  a  day, 


78 

but  there  are  200  to  250  employed  at  a  production  of  150  to  180 
tons  a  day.  These  figures  are  supplied  by  one  of  the  firm.  Averag- 
ing the  numbers  given,  we  arrive  jit  this  result  :  225  men  at  87^ 
cents,  divided  by  165  tons,  equal  to  $1.20,  or  at  the  most  favorable 
productive  situation  of  cheap  labor,  a  saving  of  20  cents  a  ton  over 
labor  in  the  Lehigh  Valley.  The  furnace-owners,  however,  claim 
$1.66  as  their  cost,  or  26  cents  above  the  Lehigh  Valley  cost. 

But  still,  though  the  labor  cost  is  nearly  the  same,  Southern  iron 
is  now  the  great  arbitrator  and  leveller  of  prices  in  the  Eastern 
markets,  and  at  a  cost  of  $3.75  to  $4.50  for  transportation  to  the 
North,  it  can  be  landed  cheaper  at  Northern  points  than  Pennsyl- 
vania iron. 

The  labor  cost  need  hardly  be  considered  then  either  in  iron  mak- 
ing or  in  mining.  I  could  prove  with  equal  facility  that  the  dif- 
ferences of  cost  of  mining  a  ton  of  coal,  iron  ore,  or  limestone  are 
of  an  equally  trifling  nature  in  different  countries  or  in  the  different 
sections  of  this  country. 

The  principal  cause  of  the  great  price  difference  is  the  distance 
or  proximity  of  the  iron,  coal,  and  limestone  beds,  which  nowhere 
are  better  situated  for  purposes  of  cheap  iron-making  than  in 
the  Southern  States,  and  perhaps  nowhere  so  poorly  situated  for 
purposes  of  cheap  iron-making  as  in  most  of  the  Northern  States. 
This  close  neighborhood  of  all  elements  necessary  in  the  produc- 
tion of  iron  saves  a  great  item  of  expense,  that  of  transportation  of 
either  one  or  the  other  of  the  materials. 

THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    FREE    ORE. 

Now,  if  our  iron  were  ever  so  cheap — and  it  can  be  made  in  the 
South  for  $9  a  ton — it  would  not  be  of  use  to  us  in  steel-making 
unless  we  have  a  full  and  free  supply  of  foreign  ore,  or  foreign 
pig-iron,  for  mixing.  The  ores  of  the  United  States  are  too  rich  in 
phosphorus  for  Bessemer-steel-making,  and  they  have  to  be  mixed 
with  fully  one  third  of  carbonaceous  ores,  mostly  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean, to  make  them  available  for  steel-making.  Although  Great 
Britain  has  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  ores,  yet  she  has  only  few  of 
the  character  wanted  for  steel-making.  Many  mines  are  not 
worked  or  worked  to  a  lesser  extent,  while  ore  importation  is  in- 
creasing in  proportion  as  steel-making  is  extending. 


79 

British  imports  of  iron  ore  in  1884  were  2,728,672  tons,  valued 
at  ;^2, 1 1 1,890,  or  $10,100,000,  being  $3.70  a  Ion.  It  docs  not 
cost  one  half  that  money  to  bring  a  ton  of  English  ore  to  the 
furnace,  nor  of  Southern  ore  to  a  Southern  furnace.  A  Cleveland 
(England)  miner  earns  5^.  5^/.  (the  rate  of  18S2)  for  a  day  of  eight 
hours*  work,  in  which  he  mines  five  tons,  which  is  about  25  cents 
a  ton.  In  the  Southern  mines  near  Birmingham,  Ala.,  the  mining 
expense  of  a  ton  of  50-per-cent.  ore  is  21  cents,  clearing  8  cents, 
royalty  25  cents,  and  transportation  to  the  furnace  25  cents,  in 
all  $1.04.  In  Western  Germany  the  output  is  about  two  t(jns,  a 
day  of  ten  hours,  per  miner,  for  which  he  gets  about  3  marks  40 
(or  81  cents),  which  brings  the  labor  cost  up  to  40  cents  a  ton. 

Of  course  the  labor  cost  varies  widely  witli  tlie  nature  and 
depth  of  the  mine,  the  hardness  of  the  rock,  and  the  width  of  the 
vein.  But  even  taking  the  highest  rates  paid  here,  it  must  be 
evident  that  the  labor  cost  would  not  materially  affect  our  iron 
miners  were  iron  admitted  duty  free.  So  long  as  we  circumscribe 
our  industries  by  making  them  dependent  in  their  materials  on 
the  cost  of  transporting  the  ores,  etc.,  to  badly  situated  furnaces, 
we  cannot  hope  of  ever  gaining  a  position  of  lasting  improvement. 
If  we  have  to  carry  our  ores  from  500  to  1,000  miles  of  inland 
transportation  to  the  furnace,  as  we  have  to  do  with  many  of  them, 
where  one  ton  at  least  is  waste,  but  has  to  carry  its  transportation 
expense  all  the  same,  of  course  furnaces  situated  that  way  will  be 
run  down  by  others  better  situated.  This  is  absolutely  indepen- 
dent of  any  foreign  competition.  The  forcible  intervention  of  facts 
will  bring  this  about.  But  it  is  wasteful  to  chain  every  industry 
to  this  forced  situation,  of  upholding  prices  by  government's 
action. 

That  the  tariff  on  ores  does  not  help  the  miner  under  any 
circumstances  will  be  seen  from  this,  that  in  the  last  year,  which 
was  a  year  of  low  prices  in  this  country  and  of  low  production,  we 
still  imported  550,000  tons  of  iron  ore. 

We  imported  likewise     94,000  tons  of  Speigeleisen, 
and  197,000      "    of  i)ig-iron 


Total.  .  291,000      "     at  a  duty  of  $6.80  or  $1,980,000. 

This  tax,  including  th.at  on  ore,  of  $2,392,000  is  laid  directly  on 


So 

ihe  Bessemer-steel  industry,  consuming  these  foreign  materials, 
which  we  have  to  import,  duty  or  no  duty,  so  long  as  we  keep  on 
steel-making.  Now  to  lay  a  duty  upon  ores  or  coal  under  such 
circumstances  is  simply  barbarous. 

Ores  cannot  be  produced  by  any  labor  process.  They  are  a 
gift  of  nature.  They  canuot  be  improved  or  changed  in  their 
nature,  if  they  do  not  possess  the  qualities  and  properties  required 
in  the  process  of  working  them  into  desired  materials.  The  per- 
sistent imposition  of  a  tax  in  the  face  of  all  these  facts  is  a  case  of 
.prevention  of  national  activity  by  governmental  interference. 

Good  ores  are  not  so  plentiful  in  the  world  that  we  need  fear 
being  flooded  with  them  from  abroad  if  we  removed  the  duties. 
The  demand  for  them  is  too  great  all  over  the  world.     They  are 
becoming  more  and  more  inaccessible  to  low  labor  cost  on  account 
of    the   gradual   exhaustion   of    the  surface   layers.     They   would 
command  the  same,  possibly  higher  prices,  if  we  admitted  all  ores 
duty  free.     They  would  be  a  very  important  addition  to  our  own 
working  materials,  which  would  be  in  so  much  better  demand  by 
the  free  admission  of  the  foreign  mixing  material.     As  it  is,  our 
iron-makers   in  Pennsylvania  and   other  Northern  States  are  the 
greatest  sufferers.     They  are  frequently  dependent  in   their  sup- 
plies on  rapacious  railroad  monopolies,  who,  if  they  are  not  con- 
trolled by  competing  lines  in  their  charges,  are  only  too  eager  to 
apply  tlie  principle  of  railroading,  "  to  charge  what  the  traffic  is 
worth."     Of  what  importance  this  feature  of  cheap  freight  rates  is 
in   iron-making   may  be  seen   from  this,  that   the   iron-maker  of 
Germany  has  a  decided  advantage  over  his  English  competitor, 
though  his  labor  cost  is  higher,  from  the  lowness  of  freights  and 
the  almost   entire   absence    of   royalties,   as  the  mines  are  state 
property.     In  the  Northern  States  the  royalty  at  the  present  time 
of  depression  in  the  iron  business  is  about  50c.  a  ton.     In  Ger- 
many coal  and  iron  lands  are  state  property.    The  royalty  paid  on 
the  former  by  the  colliery  owner  is  2  per  cent.  ;  hence  if  the  sell- 
ing price  is  $1.50  per  ton  the  royalty  would  not  be  more  than  3c. 
Iron  ore  pays  no  royalty.       The  relative  positions  of  the  principal 
iron  states  as  to  royalties  in  a  ton  of  pig-iron  on  ore  and  coal  is, 
according   to   Lowthian    Bell  :   Great   Britain,   Cleveland   district, 
78c.  ;  Scotland  $1.44  ;  Cumberland  $1.50  ;  Germany  12c.  ;  France 


8i 

i6c.  ;  Belgium  30c.  lo  96c.  In  the  Northern  States  of  America  the 
combined  royalties  would  not  be  much  different  from  those  of 
Scotland.  Pennsylvania  iron-masters  are  beginning  now  to  extend 
their  operations  to  the  Southern  mining  lands,  buying  lands  and 
erecting  furnaces.  With  the  best  modern  appliances,  cheap 
mining  lands,  no  freights  so  to  speak,  iron  will  be  made  at  prices 
as  low  as  in  any  foreign  country.  The  plan  is  now  under  con- 
sideration lo  raise  capital  for  the  purpose  of  extending  water  com- 
munication so  as  to  enable  carrying  the  furnace  product  direct  to 
Mobile  Bay.  This  advent  of  cheap  American  iron  must  neces- 
sarily bi-eak  down  all  tariff  walls,  as  the  duty  cannot  possibly  any 
longer  ])rotect  but  only  debar  home  iron  from  the  extended  use  it 
would  find  if  foreign  irons  necessary  for  mixing,  as  mentioned 
above,  could  be  had  as  free  and  cheap  as  they  can  be  landed. 

It  is  with  iron  as  with  wool.  Unless  the  ores  have  the  neces- 
sary requisites  for  making  this  or  that  kind  of  iron,  this  or  that  kind 
of  steel,  or  for  mixing  with  other  kinds  of  ores  to  produce  a 
desired  kind  of  iron  or  steel,  their  value  decreases  in  proportion 
to  the  difficulties  placed  in  the  way  of  reaching  the  combination 
material.  Nowhere  can  ores  be  found  in  one  spot  which  combine 
all  qualities  required  by  our  complex  industrial  exigencies.  The 
whole  question  of  pig-iron  making  resolves  itself  into  one  of  inter- 
mediate charges  from  the  mines  to  the  furnace.  Labor  must  not 
be  drawn  into  this  question.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  has 
been  shown  that  the  labor  cost  of  this  crude  product  on  each 
item  is  nearly  equal  in  most  countries.  It  has  been  shown  that 
where  labor  is  paid  highest  by  the  day  the  output  is  largest,  and 
that  the  difference  is  equalized  thereby. 

We  have  to  discover  what  is  different,  and  we  have  not  far  to 
reach  in  pointing  it  out.  Indeed  we  have  done  this  above,  and 
have  only  to  draw  the  final  conclusion. 

I.    ROYALTIES. 

For  Germany  we  can  trace  back  as  far  as  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, that  the  feudal  lord  holding  fief  under  the  empire  claimed 
royalty  from  those  using  the  mines.  Every  individual  could  work 
them  who  paid  his  dues,  and  was  in  turn  protected  in  his  rights 
acquired  thereby.     The  jiresent  German  (Prussian)  law  seems  to 


82 

have  sprung  from  a  self-developed  Bergreclit — the  law  governing 
the  working  of  mines, — based  on  the  principle  that  mining-lands 
are  a  trust  held  for  the  community  at  large,  and  not  a  piece  of 
property  at  the  mercy  of  any  single  individual.  The  German  law 
makes  it  impossible  to  the  speculator  to  capitalize  the  soil,  print 
shinplasters,  and  call  them  millions  or  hundreds  of  millions  of 
marks  or  dollars.  The  law  makes  it  impossible  to  victimize  the 
poor  innocents,  who  pay  their  well-earned  money  in  exchange  for 
finely  lithographed  papers,  to  find  out  soon  enough  that  they 
have  been  the  dupes  of  confidence  operators.  By  the  time  the 
public  discovers  how  they  have  been  swindled,  the  operators  who 
started  the  enterprise  have  usually  cleared  the  field. 

The  German  law  makes  it  equally  impossible  to  operators  to 
buy  up  the  mining  lands  of  a  whole  region  for  a  trifling  sum,  and 
clap  a  high  tax  on  every  ton  of  coal  or  ore  that  is  taken  from  the 
soil,  as  is  the  practice  in  America — a  tax  often  higher  than  the 
whole  labor  cost  of  taking  the  stuff  to  the  surface  amounts  to. 
Were  the  coal  and  iron  lands  the  property  of  the  State,  a  charge 
of  lo  cents  would  more  than  supply  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
with  all  the  revenue  needed  for  its  government,  and  give  the 
people  iron  and  coal  so  cheaply  that  the  manufacturers  would  not 
need  tremble  at  the  great  enigma  which  every  new  development 
presents  to  them.     In  close  connection  with  this  is  : 

2.    THE    TRANSPORTATION    QUESTION, 

which  in  Germany  is  also  largely  to  the  advantage  of  the  pro- 
ducer In  this  country,  on  the  contrar}',  the  companies  who  own 
the  mines — Reading,  Lackawanna,  etc. — in  most  cases  own  the 
transportation  lines  which  bring  the  coal  to  the  furnace.  Unless 
prevented  by  parallel  lines,  the  charges  are  frequently  so  high  that 
they  make  profitable  manufacturing  at  times  impossible.  Phila- 
delphia, the  high-school  of  protection,  is  now  raising  a  cry  of  dis- 
tress against  what  it  calls  unjust  discrimination.  But  all  protection 
or  legislation  benefiting  the  few  is  unjust  discrimination,  and — 
Philadel[jhia  ought  not  to  complain. 

The  high  royalties  and  the  excess  of  transportation  charges, 
based  on  excessively  watered  valuation  of  mine-  and  railroad- 
property  paid  by  some  of  our  furnaces,  would  more  than  cover  the 


83 

labor  cost  contained  in  a  ton  of  pig-iron.  Our  Southern  pig-iron 
furnaces,  which  are  free  from  these  grasping  cliarges,  will  find  this 
to  be  their  sole  advantage.  We  are  paying  high  taxes  on  the  very 
essence  of  profitable  manufacture,  cheap  raw  materials,  to  enrich 
mine-owners  and  transportation  companies.  It  is  gross  injustice 
to  tax  the  millions,  to  close  the  gates  to  foreign  commerce,  in 
order  to  enrich  the  projectors  of  gigantic  financiering  operations. 
The  protective  tax  abolished,  the  force  of  competition  would  press 
these  i^rivate  tax-gatherers  to  the  wall,  not  labor.  To  an  extent 
this  will  ensue  even  now,  through  the  introduction  of  Southern  iron, 
which  under  intelligent  and  economical  management  can  be  sold 
with  a  profit  at  $io,  and  at  $9  even  under  close  pressure,  instead 
of  $15,  the  lowest  price  at  which  Northern  iron  (Grey  Forge)  is 
sold  now. 

Though  it  cannot  be  used  readily  for  Bessemer  steel,  on  account 
of  being  too  rich  in  phosphorus,  yet  for  merchant  and  other  forms 
of  iron  it  does  excellent  service.  It  can  be  used  with  equal 
advantage  in  the  production  of  Clapp-Grififiths  steel  and  in  the 
Thomas-Gilchrist  process. 

"  If  the  South  should  engage  in  the  manufacture  of  Bessemer 
steel  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  has  yet  done  at  Wheeling  it  would 
probably  employ  the  Thomas-Gilchrist  process,  which  requires 
that  pig-iron  should  be  high  in  phosphorus,  that  the  work  of  elimi- 
nation in  the  converter  may  be  completely  successful  ;  or  it  would 
employ  the  Clapp-Griffiths  process,  which  is  said  to  permit  the 
presence  in  the  steel  itself  of  a  large  percentage  of  phosphorus 
without  detriment  to  its  quality,  a  result  which  is  only  rendered 
possible  by  the  rigorous  exclusion  of  silicon." 

These  are  the  words  of  Mr.  Swank,  the  Vice-President  of  the 
American  Iron  and  Steel  Association,  taken  from  the  latest 
reports.  Connecting  this  with  what  was  said  above,  we  can  safely 
say  that  our  whole  protective  system  has  outlived  itself,  that 
from  tlie  highest  to  the  lowest  form  of  iron,  from  the  machine  to 
the  ore,  every  form  is  vitiated  by  parasitical  undergrowtli.  Health 
and  vigor  are  thus  prevented  from  getting  the  mastery  in  an  other- 
wise strong  organism. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE    NATURE    AXD    COMPOSITION    OF    PRICES. 

We  have  now  closely  followed  the  methods  of  production  of 
different  nations.     We  know  the  part  the  producing  classes  take 
in  the  making  of  the  product.     This  knowledge  gained,  however, 
does  not  yet  give  a  full  insight  into  the  nature  and  composition  of 
prices.     We  see  prices  of  commodities  rise  and  fall  without  any 
great  reference  to  tangible  facts.     At  this  present  time  especially 
we  live  in  a  period  of  declining  prices.    Economists  are  engaged  in 
attempts  to  find   solutions.     The  explanation   which   finds  most 
favor,  is  the  money  view  of  the  problem.     Mr.  Goschen,  of  Eng- 
lish fame  as  a  financial  genius,  was,  to  my  knowledge,  the  first 
to  take  in  hand  the  task  to  give  an  explanation  of  the   decline 
in  prices  in  general  and  especially  so  in  British  estates.     He  did 
not  have  to  go  very  far  in  search  for  this  explanation,  as  he  had  it 
all  ready  at  hand.    It  is  the  lessened  output  of  gold.    He  attributes 
the  decline  of  prices  in  all  commodities  directly  to  the  decrease  in 
the  output  of  gold.    Mr.  Giffen,  the  Secretary  of  the  British  Board 
of  Trade,  has  lately  taken  up  the  same  side  of  the  argument.    The 
high  esteem  in  which  such  writers  are  held,  of  course,  elevates  their 
reasoning  at  once  into  a  kind  of  stock-in-trade  argument  of  writers 
on  that  question  in  England,  Germany,  and  America.     A  theory 
so  easily  handled  as  the  money  theory,  with  all  the  accessories 
which  this  term  may  imply,  including  fiat  money,  silver  monej-, 
gold  money,  interchangeable,  redeemable,  non-redeemable  money, 
of  course  is  always  a  safe   refuge  for  theory-builders.     If  history 
however  were   ever  studied   with   a  view  of  bringing  out  facts, 
it  would   be   very  hard  work   with   builders   of  theories   to  find 
material  for  their  thesis.     But  a  man  enamoured  with  a  theory  is 
never  very  materially  interfered  with  if  facts  go  against  him.     Mr. 
Goschen  might  have  found  out  that  it  took  fifty  years  and  more  in 
Europe  until  the  very  rapid  addition  to  the  world's  stock  of  pre- 
cious metals  by  the  discovery  of  America  made  a  perceptible  ira- 

84 


pression  on  jirices.  Mr.  Goschen,  however,  is  able  to  trace  a  recent 
severe  decline  of  prices  to  a  lessened  production,  which  is  of  no 
later  date  than  the  last  few  years.  But  by  actual  measurement  we 
find  that  the  decrease  in  the  metallic  output  is  so  insignificant  that 
the  effect  could  certainly  not  be  immediately  observable. 

Before  proceeding  further  let  me  state  the  facts  as  to  the  i)roduc- 
tion  of  precious  metals  during  the  last  fifty  years  : 

THE    world's     production     OF     GOLD     AND     SILVER    FROM     183I 

TO     1881. 


Mulhall. 

GoUL 

Silver. 

1831-40         .... 
1841-50          .... 
1851-60         .... 
IS6I-70         .... 
1871-80         .... 
I8SI 

$140,000,000 
370,000,000 
1,360,000,000 
1,275,000,000 
1.150,000,000 
100,000,000 

$270,000,000 
335,000,000 
390,000,000 
530,000,000 
830,000,000 
80,000,000 

$4,395,000,000 

$2,435,000,000 

For  the  last  ten  years  Mr.  Burchard,  the  director  of  the  United 
States  mint,  sets  down  the  world's  product  and  that  of  the  United 
States  as  follows  (millions  $)  : 


G 

old. 

Silver. 

U.S. 

World. 

U.S. 

World. 

1874  .    .   . 

33-5 

II3-5 

1874      ■     • 

37-3 

82.0 

IS75  . 

33-5 

II3-5 

1875 

31-7 

82.0 

1876  . 

39-9 

1 14.0 

1876 

33.7 

98.0 

1877  . 

46.9 

114.0 

1877 

398 

81.0 

1878  . 

512 

119.0 

1878 

45-3 

94-9 

1879  . 

339 

10S.7 

1S79 

40.8 

96.1 

I8S0  . 

36.0 

106.4 

iSSo 

392 

96.7 

I88I  . 

34-7 

103.4 

1881 

430 

102.0 

18S2  . 

32.5 

98.7 

1882 

468 

IIO.O 

IS83  . 

30.0 

94.0 

1883 

46.2 

114. 2 

Totals 

377-0 

1,084.0 

Total 

s    . 

408.8 

957.0 

86 

The  recent  decline  in  the  production  of  gold  from  the  largest, 
the  decade  of  185 1  to  1S60,  is  28|-  per  cent.,  and  from  that  of  the 
decade  immediately  preceding,  only  i6f  per  cent.  In  estimating 
the  future  yield  not  sufficient  weight  is  given  to  new  fields  likely 
to  be  opened,  or  to  larger  returns  of  old  ones  under  more  scientific 
management.  So,  for  instance,  Russia,  which  gave  to  the  world 
durina  the  fifteen  years  of  1S68  to  1882  at  the  average  rate  of 
;!^4,4oc,coo  a  year,  produced  in  1881  ;65.94o,ooo.  What  Central 
and  South  America,  traversed  by  railroads  and  diffused  with  new 
life-blood  by  thus  opening  its  immense  tracts,  would  yield  to  the 
future,  is  merely  conjecture.  As  a  niotter  of  speculation  it  can 
have  no  bearing  on  the  present  situation.  I  simply  make  mention 
of  it  to  show  that  a  gold  famine  is  not  necessarily  threatening  us 
even  as  a  remote  possibility.  So  far  as  the  present  situation  is 
concerned  as  a  price-making  factor  it  will  be  seen  that  the  last- 
named  year  has  given  us  (in  one  single  year)  two  thirds  as  much 
gold  as  was  the  output  of  the  whole  decade  of  1831  to  1840. 

It  must  be  remembered  all  the  time  that  gold  is  not  eaten  up 
like  the  year's  crop  of  food,  or  worn  off  like  our  fibre  products. 
The  gold  stock  is  cumulative,  and  the  findings  of  to-day  are  simply 
an  addition  to  the  findings  of  yesterday. 

Hence  the  slight  decrease  in  gold  production  does  not  give  the 
careful  economist  any  right  to  base  general  conclusions  upon  the 
fact,  the  more  as  the  possible  influence  upon  prices,  if  such  were 
to  be  admitted  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  is  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  increased  silver  production.  Silver,  I  may  be  an- 
swered, is  demonetized  in  many  countries,  and  thus  a  severe  strain 
is  put  on  gold.  Silver,  however,  is  still  the  great  circulating 
medium  of  the  world,  excepting  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  the 
United  States,  where,  in  the  latter  country,  it  is  held  as  a  reserve 
for  a  limited  amount  of  paper  circulation.  Silver  is  held  at  the 
present  day  as  part  of  the  reserves  of  the  banks  of  France  in  about 
equal  part  to  gold,  two  to  one  of  gold  of  the  Bank  of  the  Nether- 
lands, in  like  proportion  by  the  Bank  of  Austro-Hungary,  and  of 
Russia  to  a  similar  degree.  But  even  in  Great  Britain  the  esti- 
mated amount  circulating  is  in  but  a  slightly  smaller  proportion  to 
gold  than  in  1848.  Mulhall  estimates  the  ratio  of  gold  to  silver 
for  1848  as  ;^55,ooo,ooo  to  ;^  11,000,000,  and  for  1S80  at  ^^124,- 


87 

000,000  to  ;^i9,ooo,ooo.  All  of  which  is  to  prove  that  silver  is 
yet  a  very  important  factor  as  a  circulating  medium,  and  that  its 
effect  upon  jtrices  has  to  be  counted  likewise  when  the  delinquency 
of  gold  is  being  taken  to  task. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  production  of  precious  metals  for 
the  twenty  years  previous  to  1S50  was  $1,100,000,000,  and  for  the 
thirty  years  succeeding  1S50  was  $5,500,000,000.  Besides  all  this 
vast  increase  of  treasure  we  have  yet  to  take  into  account  the  in- 
crease in  the  excess  of  paper  money  not  covered  by  specie  reserves, 
estimated  for  1S50  as  $450,000,000,  and  for  1880  as  $2,150,060,- 
000,  an  increase  in  round  numbers  of  $1,700,000,000,  which  gives 
us  a  grand  total  increase  in  circulating  mediums  of  say  ;^  1,500,- 
000,000  sterling  or  $7,500,000,000  in  round  numbers.  There  is 
another  factor  to  be  remembered  :  the  extension  of  the  bankins 
system,  through  which  checks  are  assuming  the  functions  of 
money,  making  it  so  much  less  of  an  indispensable  necessity ; 
stocks,  bonds,  bills  of  exchange,  etc.,  all  serving  as  money  in 
effecting  clearances  between  nations  and  nations,  and  checks  ful- 
filling the  same  mission  between  individuals  of  the  same  nation  to 
a  far  greater  degree  than  at  the  time  gold  diggings  were  begun  in 
California  and  Australia.  But  I  will  waive  this  point  and  simply 
return  to  our  money  increase,  equal  in  amount,  dollar  for  dollar, 
to  the  increase  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  all  Europe  and  the 
United  States  twice  over,  and  behold,  what  an  inflation  we  have 
before  us  !  Ought  not,  according  to  the  price  theory  of  Mr. 
Goschen  and  his  disciples,  prices  be  away  up  in  the  skies  ?  They 
would  be  rather  so  if  prices  Avere  only  partially  as  much  influenced 
by  the  amount  of  gold  or  silver  as  is  usually  assumed  to  be  the 
case.  But  how  does  the  case  stand  ?  How  do  prices  compare 
with  say  fifty  years  ago,  when  precious  metals  were  indeed  scarce 
and  less  by  $7,000,000,000  (less  what  has  been  destroyed  by 
abrasion,  etc.)  than  at  the  present  time  ?  Is  there  any  foundation 
for  any  of  these  time-honored  assumptions  ?  Have  we  not  before  us 
a  repetition  of  the  puzzle  which  upset  so  many  scientific  minds  at 
the  time,  namely,  why  water  does  not  increase  in  weight  when  fish 
are  put  in  ?  It  will  be  remembered  that  a  very  plain  matter-of- 
fact  man  proved  the  puzzle  to  be  a  hoax.  Experiment  proved  that 
the  weight  was  actually  increased  to  the  extent  of  the  weight  of  the 


88 

fish  put  in  the  dish  of  water.     So  it  will  be  found  with  the  nature 
of  prices  when  we  trace  them  back,  say  fifty  or  a  hundred  years, 
and  compare  them  with  recent  periods.     IMost  people  are  satisfied 
if  they  look  back  a  few  years,  note  the  change  which  has  taken 
place,  ascribe  any  reason  readily  at  hand  as  the  explanation  of  a 
phenomenon  which  may  perhaps  be  as  transitory  as  the  real  cause 
be  remote  from  the  one  selected.     If  such  explanation  once  has 
gained  currency  among  the  scribes,  we  hear  the  thing  repeated  with 
the  same  amount  of  thought  as  is  expressed  by  the  Buddhist  priest 
in  turning  the  crank  of  his  prayer-mill.     ISIany  causes  given  in 
explanation  of   phenomena  are   borrowed  from  reasoners  whose 
deductions  might  have  been  correct  emanations  of  the  data  of 
their  day.     But  how  wonderful  have  been  the  changes  wrought  by 
the  development  of  our  age  ?     How  great  the  miracles  created  by 
the  inventive  genius  of  man  ?     The  work  of  ages  is  moulded  in 
years.     Distances  are  absolutely  neutralized,  and  the  whole  world 
as  to  neighborhood  is  like  adjoining  villages  of  a  hundred  years 
ago.     And  with  all  this  thought-like  exchange  of  intelligence  and 
commodities  made  possible  by  this  rapid  advance  of  events,  the 
slow  and  measured  philosopher  is  still  satisfied  if  he  can  patch  up 
a  threadbare  theory  so  as  to  serve  in  covering  a  world-wide  change. 
Most  reasoners  fail  so  formally  in  their  science  because  they  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  phenomena  are  born  and  fed  by  a  multitude 
of  causes,  which  have  to  be  explained  and  understood  in  order  to 
give  weight  and  substance  to  deductions  and  theories  based  thereon. 
Without  this,  let  us  say,  universality  of  investigation,  false  theories 
arise  which  may  dazzle  perhaps  for  the  moment,  but  they  will  dis- 
appear after  having  created  the  mischief  which  necessarily  and 
absolutely  must  follow  in  their  wake. 

Now  as  to  prices,  how  do  they  appear  under  the  glare  of  com- 
parison ?  We  have  to  take  English  prices  and  make  allowance 
for  fiscal  changes  so  as  to  bring  them  as  near  as  possible  to  a  net 
basis.  Take  wheat,  the  most  important  commodity  and  the  one 
most  reliably  quoted.  From  1765  to  1791  (previous  to  the  time 
when  a  new  corn  law  was  enacted  putting  a  heavy  duty  on  wheat 
when  below  505-.),  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  wheat  averaged 
53^.  the  quarter,  the  lowest  and  highest  prices  being  36^.  in  1779 
and  595.  in  1773.     I  will  not, bring  here  the  years  following  before 


89 


the  abolilion  of  the  corn  laws,  when  prices  were  ranging  from  Cos. 
to  120S.  Artificially  advanced  by  corn  laws,  and  under  the  influ- 
ence of  famine,  war,  and  scarcity,  they  would  not  be  properly 
brought  in  here.  I  will  commence  with  1845.  The  average 
prices  of  five-yearly  periods  were  as  follows  : 


i84f)  to  1S50 
1S51  "   1S55 

1 8^6    "    1S60 
iSGi    "    1S65 


^2^. 

1866  to 

1870 

56.. 

1S71    " 

1S75 

53-f- 

1876   " 

iSSo 

48J. 

iSSi    " 

1884 

55*. 
55-r. 
48J. 
42s. 


In  December,  1884,  wheat  was  ^os.  ^d.  This  price  was  not 
reached  for  the  last  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  years. 

This,  however,  takes  us  back  into  the  period  of  low  prices, 
which  ruled  in  England  for  fifty  years  back  of  1764.  But  even 
tlicn  we  only  count  ten  years  when  wheat  was  30i'.  or  under. 
From  1646  to  17 15  the  average  price  of  wheat  was  44X.  the  quarter. 

Mulhall  compares  prices  of  1845-50  and  1883  of  sixteen  articles  : 


Coffee 

100 

Copper 

100 

CoUon 

100 

Cotton-cloth 

100 

Cotton-yarn 

100 

Flax 

100 

Iron  . 

100 

Lead 

100 

82 

Leather 

100 

139 

80 

Meat 

100 

145 

89 

Suc;ar 

100 

60 

92 

Tallow 

100 

III 

100 

Tea    . 

100 

76 

68 

Timber 

ICO 

108 

79 

Wheat 

100 

77 

83 

Silk 

100 

126 

The  price  of  raw  silk  has  gone  down  considerably  since  1883. 
A  smaller  demand,  caused  by  changing  fashion,  has  brought  this 
about.  A  price  comparison  of  to-day  with  1847  is  given  on  page 
91. 

Meat  and  leather  are  the  only  articles  which  show  a  marked 
increase.  Timber  and  tallow  come  next,  but  the  rise  is  so  small 
that,  in  comparison  to  declines  ranging  from  eight  to  forty  per 
cent,  on  ten  of  the  most  important  articles  of  consumption  named 
in  the  above  list,  they  can  be  passed  over,  as  not  very  mate- 
rial, for  briefness'  sake.  The  great  rise  in  meat,  however,  has  to 
be  dwelt  upon  more  fully.  In  perhaps  no  other  article  of  food 
have  the  fields  of  supply  been  so  extended  beyond  those  in  exist- 
ence before  the  advent  of  the  era  from  which  our  inquiry  starts — 
that  previous  to  the  great  gold-finds  and  the  abolition  of  the  corn 


90 

laws  in  England, — as  in  that  of  meat.  From  America  and  Australia 
immense  stores  are  shipped  to  Great  Britain  both  in  live  and  dead 
meat. 

Canada  and  the  Argentine  Republic  are  getting  more  and  more 
into  line  as  purveyors  of  tlie  Britisli  markets,  not  mentioning 
the  many  countries  of  Europe,  who  are  still  shipping  not  unim- 
portant quantities  to  foreign,  mostly  English,  markets.  The 
imports  for  1883  are,  by  the  Board  of  Trade  reports  : 

In  living  animals ^11,978,000,  whereof  the 

United  States  supplied  ^3,700,000 

And  in  dead  meals ^16,202,000,  whereof  the 

United  States  furnished  ^4,500,000 

Or  a  total  of  ;,{^28,iSo,oco  or  $140,000,000 

The  total  importation  in  1S68  was  ^6,000,000  or  about  Jg-  of  the 
present  time.  The  extent,  meat  production  has  taken  in  the 
United  States  during  the  last  ten  years  is  so  great,  that  figures 
compared  with  iliose  of  previous  decades  would  make  those  of 
say  1850  ajjpear  quite  out  of  proportion,  even  if  divided  pro 
capita.  Outside  of  the  ^100,000,000  we  export  in  living  animals, 
provisions,  and  lard,  all  our  immense  production  is  consumed  at 
home.  If  the  consuming  power  were  not  greater  than  say  1850, 
meat  prices  would  be  much  below  those  of  that  period,  while  on 
the  contrary  they  show  a  very  formidable  increase.  The  con- 
suming capacity  of  the  poorer  classes  has  risen  in  the  ratio  in 
which  the  quantity  produced  has  increased  beyond  the  ratio  of 
increase  of  population,  multiplied  by  the  price  increase.  If  the 
consuming  power  and  producing  power  had  kept  even  step,  the 
price  would  not  have  increased.  The  price  increase  shows  dis- 
tinctly that  the  consuming  power  is  still  ahead  of  the  supply.  The 
indications,  however,  are  that  production  will  keep  on  increasing, 
and  that  price  decline  of  meat  will  be  chronicled  shortly  as  stirely 
as  the  wheat  decline  is  now  one  of  the  staying  forces. 

The  consumption  of  meat  in  France  has  nearly  doubled  since 
1840,  while  it  has  more  than  trebled  in  Great  Britain,  This 
makes  it  certainly  clear  that  the  rise  in  the  price  of  meat,  etc.,  is 
due  to  the  perfectly  natural  cause  of  supply,  insufficient  for  the 
greatly  increased  demand,  and  not  to  causes  adduced  by  subli- 
mated theory. 


91 


The  increase  in  the  price  of  leather  and  tallow  can  be  traced  to 
the  same  source  :  greater  power  of  consumption  of  the  working 
classes.  The  working  classes  are  far  better  suj^plied  with  boots 
and  shoes  than  in  the  former  price-era  mentioned  above. 

Comparing  prices  given  by  Tooke,  ("  History  of  Prices  ")  for 
1847,  with  j)rice  quotations  of  my  own  research  from  ruling 
(English)  market  quotations,  we  find  the  average  to  be  this  : 


In  tlie  two  periods. 

1S47. 

1885. 

Copper  cakes,  per  ton 

$458.00 

$238.00 

Bar  iion,  per  ton 

48.00 

31.00 

Lead,  ]Mgs,  per  ton 

91.00 

52.00 

Tin,  bar,  cv\  t.     . 

24.00 

16.00 

Cotton,  American,  lb. 

0.12 

O.IOf 

Silk,  Italian 

5.00 

4- 30 

Refined  sugar,  bonded,  cwt. 

7-63 

3-84 

Tea 

0.60 

0.30 

Wool,  English     . 

. 

0.48 

0.22 

^Vlleat,  (piarter   . 

16.75 

7.92 

Wheat,  bushel     . 

2.IO 

0.99 

[I  liave  changed  English  money  quotations  to  American,  as  the  reader  is  more 
used  to  them.] 

There  is  no  doubt  that  if  all  other  things  had  remained  the 
same,  the  enormous  increase  in  circulation  would  have  brought 
up  prices  to  a  greatly  higher  basis.  That  prices  are  not  higher, 
but  far  below  the  price  era  of  1845  to  1850 — not  by  any  means 
one  of  high  prices, — makes  it  certain  that  other  things  did  not 
remain  the  same,  but  underwent  such  changes  that  thereby  not 
alone  were  obliterated  all  effects  of  the  large  additions  to  the 
existing  mediums  of  exchange,  but  that  they  contributed  largely 
to  a  still  lower  scale  of  prices  from  that  ruling  when  money  was 
comparatively  a  scarcity.  I  have  simply  mentioned  raw  materials 
and  food  products.  Manufactures,  it  is  well  known,  are  on  the 
whole  cheaper  yet,  as  the  application  of  labor-saving  machinery 
has  been  even  more  potential  in  price-making  in  this  line  of 
human  industry  than  in  the  production  of  simpler  articles.  That 
we  had  intermediate  periods  of  higher  prices,  is  a  known  fact. 
They  were,  however,  traceable  to  causes  which  by  their  presence 
and  disappearance  always  proved  to  a  certainty  that  it  was  not 


92 

the  plethora  of  money  which  caused  price  increase.  It  would  be 
useless  to  count  them  up  here.  The  wars  of  the  last  thirty  years 
were  such  terrific  destroyers  of  property  and  commodities  that  they 
alone  would  suffice  to  explain  to  a  very  large  measure  the  oscil- 
lating nature  of  prices.  But  that  the  tendency  has  been  a  down- 
ward one,  instead  of  a  rising  one,  is  so  clearly  proven  by  the 
above  that  it  would  be  a  waste  of  words  to  add  any  thing  further 
to  the  proof.  That  this  has  been  so,  proves  sufficiently,  that  there 
are  far  more  powerful  factors  at  work  in  price-building  than  cur- 
rency or  the  precious  metals.  It  remains  now  to  mention  what  in 
effect  are  the  main  tentatives  in  the  construction  of  prices,  when 
it  will  be  seen  that  nothing  less  than  the  whole  social  fabric  is 
tributive  to  and  dependent  on  price-making  and  its  factors. 
Though  there  may  be  a  multitude  of  causes,  yet  we  can  only  be 
concerned  in  those  of  a  general  and  therefore  permanent  influence. 

1.  Land  and  its  tenure,  including  natural  forces. 

2.  Production  and  its  methods. 

3.  Transportation. 

4.  Taxation  and  laws. 

5.  Currency  and  money. 

6.  Interest  and  capital. 

7.  Distribution  and  profits. 

That  prices  and  price-making  influences  cannot  be  considered 
from  the  narrow  standpoint  of  a  community  or  a  nation,  but  of 
the  world  at  large,  can  be  illustrated  by  two  examples.  The 
doom  of  English  and  Irish  landlordism  is  a  foregone  conclusion, 
pronounced  and  decided  upon,  not  by  a  committee  of  foolish 
terrorists  and  dynamiters,  but  by  the  peaceable  settlers  upon  free 
and  cheap  lands  at  5  to  10,000  miles  distant  from  the  manorial 
estate.  I  may  be  answered  that  this  detrimental  influence  is 
caused  by  the  free  access  of  foreign  grains  to  British  markets, 
which  the  Prussian  junker  is  trying  to  overcome  by  laying  a  tax 
upon  foreign  food  supplies.  The  possibility  that  the  British  peo- 
ple will  ever  submit  again  to  a  tax  on  their  food  in  order  to  secure 
the  permanency  of  a  land-holding  aristocracy  is  not  very  promis- 
ing. Farming,  it  can  be  shown,  is  as  profitable  in  England  as  any- 
where, ])rovided  it  be  freed  from  its  encumbrances.  But,  like  any 
other  industry,  farming  cannot  carry  two  profits  when  competing 


93 

nations  are  satisfied  to  carry  it  on  with  one  profit.  The  plea  of 
the  small  rate  of  interest  which  the  rent  yields  to  the  landlord— 
2J  per  cent.— we  need  not  consider,  knowing  that  valuation  has 
been  more  than  quadrupled,  and  a  rent  of  2|  per  cent,  is  to-day 
one  of  10  per  cent,  on  the  valuation  of  fifty  years  ago,  and  on  the 
product  of  the  same  acre, 

Mr.  Wai.  J.  Harris,  M.W,  has  lately  contributed  to  the  London 
Eco7iomist  a  paper  on  "  The  Saleable  Value  of  the  Produce  of 
English  Farms."  He  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  value  of 
English  farming. 

VALUATION    OF    THE    SALABLE    PRODUCE    OF    THE    SOIL  OF    ENG- 
LAND   AND    WALES. 

Wheat—  Bushels. 

England     2,530,711  acres,  at 

29  bushels       .  .         .     73,390,619 

Wales    .     .      11 M^  acres,  at 

24  bushels        .  .          .        1,862,664 

2,608.322  75,253.283 

Deduct  seed  (2  bushels  per 

acre)        ....        5,216,644 

70,036,639  at  4J.  id.  per  bushel  ;^  14.882, 785 

Barley — 

England    .  .  1,808,408 

acres,  at  35  bushels  .  .     63,294,280 

Wales         .         .  129,856 

acres,  at  29  bushels  .  .        3,765,824 

67,060,104 
Deduct  seed  (3  bushels  per 

acre)         ....        5,8i4.792 


61,245,312  at  4J-.  per  bushel        .     12.249,062 

Oats- 
England        .         .     1,620,264 

acres  at  44  bushels  .  .      71,291,616 

Wales  .         .         .        249,204 

acres  at  35  bushels  .         .       8,722,140 

80,013,756 
Deduct  seed  (4  bushels  per 

acre)        ....        7.477,572 

72,535,884  at  2.r.  S(/.  per  bushel     .  9,670,195 

Beans,  peas,  and  rye— 692,000  acres,  ai  £1  per  acre         .          .          ■  4, 844,000 
Straw  used   for   feeding  cattle,  or  sold,  from  6,400,000  acres,  at  i,\ 

per  acre,  the  rest  used  on  the  farm  as  bedding  and  thatch         .  6,400.000 

Turnips         .         .         .  1,542,612  acres,  at /6  per  acre           .         .  9,255,672 


94 


Potatoes 
Mangolds 
Carrots 

Vetches,  trefolium,  etc 

Clover,    sainfoin,    and 

rotation  grasses     . 

Permanent  pasture     < 

Hops,  flax,  etc.     . 
Feed  on 


401,000  acres,  at  ;/^i2  per  acre 
302,069  acres,  at  ;i^  9  i)er  acre 
l2,oSo  acres,  at  ^10  per  acre 
389,000  acres,  at  /^  5  per  acre 
(  1,755,000  acres  for  hay,  jCs  per  acre 
(  1,100,000  acres  not  for  hay,  /^2  per  acre 
4,523,000  acres  for  hay,  £4  10s.  per  acre 
10,060,301   acres  not  far  hay.;^2  loj.  per  acre 
71,000  acres,  computed  at 
8,000,000  acres  waste  land,  3s.  per  acre 


Orchards,  market  gardens,  etc.,  about  246.000  acres,  ;,f 20  per  acre 


Deduct   for  feed  of  work   horses  used   solely  in  agriculture, 
847,592,  at  ;[f  20  per  horse  per  annum 


To  this  must  be  added  from  other  sources 

Which  gives  a  total  product  of         .         .         . 

From  tliis  gross  product    ..... 

Are  to  be  deducted  first,  the  following  burdens  : 

Local  rales  applying  exclusively  to  agricultural 
land  in  England  and  Wales,  including  edu- 
cation rate,  whether  it  be  levied  by  volun- 
tary rate  or  otherwise  .... 

Tithes 

Land  tax,  redeemed  and  unredeemed 

Income  tax,  schedule  B,  deducting  abatements, 
say    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         • 

Legacy,  succession,  and  probate  duties  affecting 
agricultural  incomes  ..... 

Stamps  on  deeds  affecting  agricultural  incomes 


Labor  of  870,000  agricultural  laborers,  not 
counting  40,000  women,  averaging  15s.  a 
week  ....... 

Incomes  from  the  value  of  land,  according 
to  schedule  A,  of  the  income  tax 


4,812,000 

2,934.541 
120,800 
1,945,000 
8,775,000 
2,200,000 
18,103,500 

25.150,775 
2,000,000 
1,200,000 
4,920,000 

129,463,330 

16,951,840 

112,511.490 
,     6,500,000 


;^r  19,000,000 

;^  I  19,000,000 


;f^7, 000,000 
4,000,000 
1,700,000 

480,000 

900,000 
500,000 

^14,580,000 


34,700,000 
43,000,000 


92,293,000 

Leaving  the  farmer's  income        .....       ^^27, 000,000 

besides  what  means  of  support  he  derives  directly  from  the  farm  for  himself 
and  family. 

From  this  sum  ;^ 4,000,000  must  come  off  for  manure  purchased, 
besides  all  outlays  for  repairs,  living,  etc.,  while  ^43)0°°)°°°  g° 
to  the  small  number  of  landholders.  This  showing  is  a  plain  but 
unanswerable  argument  against  the  possibility  of  maintaining  the 
English  land  system  any  longer.  With  all  the  love  of  the  British 
people  for  the  show  business,  and  their  willingness  to  pay  a  big 
round  sum  for  the  privilege  of  possessing  a  great  titled  nobility, 


95 

the  price  they  pay  annually  is  rather  in  excess  of  the  value  of  this 
rare  piece  of  archeological  curiosity.  The  current  of  undisturbed 
competitive  forces  is  all  drifting  toward  the  interest  of  the  pro- 
ducing classes.  The  free  access  of  foreign-grown  food  into  Great 
Britain,  through  the  means  produced  by  modern  invention,  must 
necessarily  lead  to  the  distribution  of  the  income  of  class  A,  f(jr 
the  benefit  of  the  farmer  and  the  agricultural  laborer.  The  com- 
petitive forces  of  the  near  time  are  so  severe,  that  not  more  than 
one  profit  can  maintain  where  formerly  two  and  three  were  charged 
on  the  product. 

That  the  influences  referred  to,  which  the  outside  world  exer- 
cises upon  prices,  cannot  be  guaranteed  against  by  taxation  and 
protection  for  any  long  period,  can  be  shown  by  my  second  exam- 
ple, that  of  the  woollen  industry  in  the  United  Slates. 

Here  we  had  a  system  of  protective  taxation  spun  out  to  the 
finest  point  by  all  parties  interested  in  the  production  of  wool 
and  in  the  manufacture  of  woollens  ;  yet  there  is  no  industry  in 
the  country  so  completely  disorganized  and  disrupted  as  this 
dearest  of  all  our  nurslings.  There  were  twenty  years  of  the  full 
application  of  the  artificial  device.  But  what  are  the  results  ?  The 
infant  is  absolutely  confined  to  the  nursery,  while  foreign  manu- 
factures are  brought  here,  increasing  in  value  and  bulk  every  year. 
The  price-making  factor  operates  so  powerfully  in  Australian 
wools  that  wools  outside  of  the  United  States  have  become  so 
much  cheaper  than  our  wools  that  the  fabrics  made  of  foreign 
wools  in  foreign  countries  can  be  landed  cheaper,  duty  paid,  in 
this  country  than  we  can  make  them  here.  In  consequence,  not 
only  American  woollens  but  American  wools  have  been  becoming 
a  drug  in  our  markets,  all  because  the  sun  and  the  soil  and  other 
conditions  are  more  favorable  to  sheep-farming  in  Australia  and 
the  Plata  country  than  in  the  United  States. 

A  clear  understanding  of  the  nature  and  influence  of  the  men- 
tioned causes  on  prices  must  make  it  apparent  that  those  nations 
are  most  favored  in  the  exchanges  of  the  world  who  give  these 
influences  fullest  consideration.  A  nation  who  would  make  every 
one  of  the  named  subdivisions  subservient  to  the  great  idea  that 
every  burden  on  any  of  them  is  a  burden  upon  the  whole,  and 
principally  upon  the  laborer  who  has  to  carry  them   all,  would  be 


96 

the  first  to  reap  the  fruits  of  unexampled  prosperity  of  all  its 
individual  members.  Every  commodity  offered  for  exchange 
contains  all  the  elements  of  prices.  Every  price-making  element 
is  contained  in  the  smallest  unit  as  well  as  in  the  whole  quantity  of 
national  production.  Wherever  people  are  oppressed,  it  is  through 
the  uneven  distribution  of  burdens  on  either  one  or  the  other  or 
on  all  the  price-making  elements,  and  inquiring  into  their  bearing 
upon  prices  must  therefore  be  the  first  task  of  political  economy, 
which  above  all  must  be  one  of  the  exact  sciences  or  nothing. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    TRUE    VALUE    OF     OUR    ANNUAL     PRODUCTION THE     SHARE 

THE  DIFFERENT  CLASSES  HAVE  IN   ITS  DISTRIBUTIVE  VALUE. 

The  question  may  be  raised  :  What  is  llic  possible  limit  of  the 
earning  capacity  of  the  individual,  if  all  employed  in  useful 
and  gainful  labor  were  remunerated  alike  in  money  of  the  day, 
upon  the  basis  of  valuation  and  productiveness  of  the  year  x88o  ? 
To  arrive  at  a  clear  understanding  upon  this,  is  the  more  import- 
ant, in  view  of  the  vague  estimates  upon  which  so  much  of  the 
criticism  of  the  day  is  based,  and  from  which  so  much  agitation  is 
evolved. 

The  estimates  vary  so  widely,  from  $500  to  $2,000  per  capita  of 
those  employed  in  productive  enterprises,  that  it  is  well  to  estab- 
lish a  correct,  scientific  basis  of  earnings.  No  country  is  better 
equipped  to  give  full  answer  to  an  inquiry  of  this  sort  than  the 
United  States.  No  country  possesses  so  complete  a  system  of 
census  enumeration  of  necessary  data  to  this  end  as  the  United 
States.  It  is  true  much  may  be  desired  yet,  to  supply  greater  cor- 
rectness, but  the  lines  covered  are  the  ones  necessary  for  our 
inquiry,  and  are  covered  by  our  government  only.  England's 
census  does  not  give  valuations  of  earnings  or  production.  Com- 
plete as  the  Board  of  Trade  reports  are  in  other  directions,  they 
do  not  cover  any  thing  pertaining  to  this  column  of  national 
statistics. 

Germany's  national  statistics  are  of  recent  growth,  and  are  less 
complete  than  the  British,  France  has  at  various  times  under- 
taken government  inquiries  by  commissioners  appointed  to  that 
end,  and  gives  us  in  general  outlines  enough  to  make  comparisons, 
though  in  classification  and  fulness  much  is  wanted  to  bring  the 
information  up  to  the  work  of  the  United  States.  We  have  intro- 
duced a  system  of  inquiry  which,  in  parallel  lines  of  decades, 
brings  facts  and  figures  to  bear  upon  the  situation,  which,  rightly 

97 


98 

understood  and  cleared  from  dross,  ought  not  to  leave  room  for 
much  doubt  or  vagueness  in  the  unit  of  earnings  per  capita  of 
those  occupied  in  useful  occupations,  or  of  the  total  of  the  earn- 
ings of  the  nation. 

To  arrive  at  the  per-capita  share,  we  have  to  establish  first  the 
sum-total  of  national  earnings.  This  we  can  do  by  taking  the  dif- 
ferent divisions  of  census  compilations.  In  adding  them  up, 
taking  each  as  given,  many  commit  the  grave  error  to  use  the 
same  figures  two  and  three  times  over  and  again.  Freed  from  all 
repetition  of  the  same  items,  we  have  the  following  data  as  a 
basis  : 

(i)  Agriculture. — The  census  figures  give  "  estimated  value  of 
all  farm  productions  (sold,  consumed,  or  on  hand,)  for  1879"  as 
$2,213,402,564. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Dodge,  the  "  Statistician  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, and  Special  Agent  of  the  Census  for  the  Collection  of 
Statistics  in  Regard  to  Agriculture,"  is,  however,  not  satisfied  with 
this  estimate,  which,  by  a  tabulated  statement,  he  raises  to 
$3,726,331,422,  farm  value.  I  do  not  wish  to  enter  very  closely 
into  the  scrutiny  of  the  items.  The  difference,  however,  is  so 
beyond  all  possibility,  if  the  census  estimates  are  to  be  considered 
of  any  value  whatsoever,  that  a  few  critical  side  glances  are 
important. 

First,  as  to  valuing  the  produce.  I  will  show  the  excessiveness 
by  a  few  examples.  By  placing  side  by  side  the  valuation  which, 
according  to  Mr.  Dodge,  is  the  value  on  the  farm,  and  the  average 
export  price  for  the  year,  given  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  which 
includes  all  the  transportation  expense  from  the  farm  to  the  sea- 
board, all  the  charges  and  profits  of  middlemen,  storehousing, 
etc.,  we  shall  see  at  once  the  unreliability  of  these  "  official 
figures."  The  humorous  side  of  it  is  apparent,  when  we  state 
that  Mr.  Nimmo,  the  late  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  fully 
endorses  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Dodge,  w^hile  at  the  same  time  he 
gives  to  the  public  his  official  statement  of  the  average  Export 
Prices  of  Domestic  Merchandise. 


99 


1879. 

Farm  value,  according 

to  Mr.  U()d;;c  aiul 

Mr.  Niiiiiivo. 

Kxporl  price,  arcording 
tu  Mr.  Nimiiio. 

Wheat,  per  bushel 
Iiuliaii  com,  ]iei"  bushel 
Oats,  per  bushel     . 
Kye,     "        "          .         . 
Cotton,  per  lb. 
Wool,         "             .         . 
Tobacco    " 

$0,951 
•396 
.36 
.756 
.093 
.28 
.065 

$I.o63 

.471 

.297 

.646 

.099 

.29 

.073 

I  have  selected  for  this  comparison  the  nio.st  important  of  our 
agricultural  products,  wliicli  give  food  and  raiment  to  our  people, 
and  besides  tliis  furnish  the  bulk  of  our  exports.  Fancy  the 
happy  position  of  our  farmers  if  their  product  were  not  alone 
shipped  to  the  farthest  home  market  free  of  all  charges  of  trans- 
portation, but  that  every  middleman  and  his  assistants,  the  banker 
and  merchant,  were  all  engaged  in  a  sort  c;f  benefit  society  to  the 
agricultural  population,  and  to  that  end  not  alone  throw  in  all 
their  labor  free  of  charge,  but  besides  give  him,  out  of  some 
unexplained  fund,  a  bonus  above  the  export  price  as  below,  all 
for  the  privilege  of  being  permitted  to  help  "building  up  the 
country,"  as  in  these  items  : 

Excess  of  farm  price  over  export  price,  according  to  Dodge  and 

Ninwio. 


Oats,  per  bushel 

Rye, 

Tobacco,  per  lb. 


$0,063 
.116 
.007 


Excess  of  export  price  over  farm  price,  as  per  Dodge  and  Nimmo. 

$0,117 


Wheat,  per  busliel 
Indian  corn,  per  bushel 
Cotton,  per  lb. 
Wool 


.075 
.oor 
.01 


Or  imagine  the  nearness  of  the  millennium  to  our  rural  friends, 
if  their  wheat  could  be  brought  from  Dakotah  or  Illinois  to  New 
York  and  put  on  board  the  steamer,  free  of  all  other  charges,  for 
ii-fV  cents,  and  Indian  corn  for  7^- cents  a  bushel,  and  receive  the 
balance  in  cash. 

Wool,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  condition  in  which  we  market  it 
would  in   1S79,  averaging  the  different  grades,  not  have  brought 


lOO 


28  cents  in  New  York  ;  far  less  in  the  Western  States  and  Terri- 
tories. The  whole  concoction  is  so  absurd  that  it  surely  would 
not  have  been  produced  had  it  not  been  to  serve  a  political  end 
then  in  view,  which,  fortunately  for  the  country,  was  not  reached. 
I  have  to  scrutinize  the  figures,  however,  as  they  have  been  made 
the  basis  of  calculations  of  wealth  and  incomes  by  economists  of 
national  reputation,  who  might  have  been  expected  to  throw  more 
critical  acumen  on  this  matter.  Unless  the  foundation  of  our 
estimates  of  wealth-creation  is  correct,  all  our  superstructures 
will  be  as  built  on  sand. 

An  item  of  the  table  of  Mr.  Dodge,  introduced  to  swell  his  total 
to  $3,700,000,000,  is  meat  production  on  farms — $800,000,000. 
We  have  to  strike  out  the  most  of  it.  The  feed  of  cattle,  of  hogs, 
etc.,  is  raised  on  the  farm,  and  counted  as  farm  produce.  We 
cannot  count  it  twice,  first  as  root  crops,  hay,  and  corn,  and  then 
again  as  meat. 

It  has  been  doubted  by  writers  of  note  and  experience  on  agri- 
culture whether  meat-raising  on  farms  is  any  more  profitable  than 
the  raising  of  the  feed.  To  this,  however,  must  be  brought  in 
remembrance,  that  we,  at  least,  could  not  obtain  the  price  of  feed 
or  of  other  agricultural  produce  we  get  now,  Avere  it  not  for  the 
prodigious  quantities  we  consume  in  stock-raising.  But  this  is 
the  whole  advantage  our  farmers  gain  from  our  great  meat  pro- 
duction. Nothing  more.  They  cannot  sell  their  corn,  which  has 
been  fed,  nor  count  both  as  profit  after  one  has  been  expended  on 
the  other.  All  the  extra  profit  which  can  be  considered  is  that 
derived  from  stock  fed  by  grazing,  which  is  not  counted  in  the 
enumeration  of  annual  produce,  and  I  believe  butter  and  cheese 
production  fully  compensates  for  that,  and  the  annual  increase 
and  betterment  of  stocks. 

This  latter  item,  however,  would  be  more  than  covered  by 
$200,000,000.  Farm  produce  consumed  at  home  and  other  small 
crops,  perhaps  overlooked  in  the  census  estimate,  might  be  taken 
at  $300,000,000,  to  my  mind  a  liberal  estimate,  which  $500,000,000, 
added  to  the  $2,200,000,000  of  the  Census  Bureau,  would  be  the 
total  i)ossible  extent  to  which  we  could  stretch  the  figures  of  the 
value  of  our  farming  products.  From  our  examination  of  the 
valuation,  etc.,  we  should  judge  the  estimate  of  the  Census  Bureau 


lOI 


not  to  be  much  below  the  mark  ;  but  not  to  appear  over-sceptical, 

$2,700,000,000 


I  will  allow  for  agriculture 


To  this  we  must  add  : 

(2)  'I'lie  nniuial  product  of  meat  and  wool  produced  on  ranches 

and  the  product  of  fisheries 

(3)  Minint;  production     . 

(4)  Product  vf  forestry     . 

(5)  Gas  and  petroleum  production 

(6)  Manufacturing 

Which  gives  a  grand  total  of    . 


80,000,000 

200,000,000 

400,000,000 

40,000,000 

2,000,000,000 

$5,420,000,000 


Manufactures  are  usually  taken  from  the  census  reports  as 
representing  $5,300,000,000.  But  we  have  here  a  recapitulation 
of  the  cost  of  materials  over  and  over  again,  and  an  addition  of 
the  same  items  frequently  three  and  four  times,  and  call  it  national 
production.  I  hold  that  the  whole  material  cost  has  to  be  de- 
ducted from  the  account  to  the  extent  of  $3,396,823,549,  leaving 
about  92,000,000,000  to  represent  the  cost  of  manufacture.  This 
includes  the  labor  cost,  profit,  rent  of  buildings,  freight  charges  to 
and  from  the  mill,  superintendence,  interest  on  loans,  and  all  the 
incidental  charges  on  manufactures.  The  cumulative  nature  of 
these  enumerations  may  be  illustrated  by  a  few  examples  : 

First  Example. — Ready-made  Clothing. 

Material  counted  (i)  in  clothing. 

(2)  in  cloth. 

(3)  as  wool  or  cotton. 

Second  Example. — Machinery. 

Material  counted  (i)  in  machine. 

"  "  (2)  in  bar  iron  or  steel. 

"  (3)  in  pig-iron. 

"  "         (4)  as  ore  or  coal. 

Third  Example. — Crackers. 

Material  counted  (i)  in  crackers. 
(2)  in  Hour. 
"  "         (3)  as  corn. 


102 


Proof  of  Multiplication. — First  Example. 


Census  priiduct 

represented   by 

sales  price. 

Material. 

Labor. 

- 

Expenses  and 
profit. 

Coat    . 
Material 

=  cloth 
=  wool 

$5 
3 

I         -f 

$3 
I 

$r 

I 

$1 

I 

Material 

2 

+                 2 

=     $5 

$9 

Now,  for  a  thing  whose  final  market  price  cliarged  by  the  pro- 
ducer is  $5,  the  census  enumerates  $9  worth  of  products  by  this 
system  of  progressive  arithmetic.  The  only  legitimate  material 
cost  is  the  last  item,  wool  or  cotton,  and  the  labor  and  other  ex- 
pense attending  each  stage  of  manufacture,  as  will  be  seen  from 
the  above  arithmetical  proof  of  a  correct  price  compilation.  The 
wool  and  cotton  item  has  been  counted  once  before  under  the 
heading  of  agriculture.  It  ought  not  to  reappear  under  manufac- 
ture. It  stands,  then,  that  only  columns  three  and  four  are  legiti- 
mate counters  in  the  aggregation  of  values  by  manufacturing 
industries. 

Second  Example. 


Machine 

liar  iron  and  steel 

Pig-iron 

Ore  and  coal 


Census 
product. 


Material. 


$5 

3 
I 


Labor. 


Expenses  and 
profit. 


Sr 


+ 


+ 


=     $7 


$16 


Here  our  product  in  the  census  grows  up  to  16  by  means  of 
cumulation,  while  in  reality  it  is  sold  by  the  manufacturer  for  $7. 
Ore  and  coal,  and  labor  of  manufacture,  constitute  the  only 
legitimate  price  elements.  Ore  and  coal,  having  been  counted 
under  the  heading  of  mining,  ought  to  be  taken  out  entirely. 
Nothing  remains  then  but  §6  to  represent  manufacturing  in  an 
item  which  is  now  counted  as  $16  in  our  manufacturing  industries. 

I  need  not  go  into  details  about  my  third  example.    Everybody 


103 

ouglit  to  know  that  in  flouring  grain  is  the  main  item,  and,  adding 
a  very  sliglit  advance  for  labor  and  profit,  constitutes  the  cost  of 
flour.  Yet  our  census  counts  up  $505,000,000  as  flouring,  giving 
$64,000,000  as  the  addition  to  $447,000,000  of  material  or  grain, 
all  of  which  has  been  counted  in  agriculture. 

I  have  pursued  the  same  analysis  in  the  other  items,  from 
which  I  have  deducted  all  materials,  which  were  contributed  by 
manufacturing  industries,  where  they  had  been  enumerated  before. 

To  this  annual  product  of  $5,420,000,000  ought  to  be  added 
transportation  expense.  But  as  this  is  usually  paid  by  the  re- 
ceiver and  cliarged  upon  his  goods  in  the  gross  profits  which  he 
gets  from  his  customers,  it  would  be  a  multiplication,  if  I  added 
them  here.  A  great  part  of  the  annual  product  passes  from  the 
producer  directly  through  the  hands  of  the  retail  merchant  into 
the  hands  of  the  consumer.  But  the  jobber  has  also  a  large  share 
in  the  distribution  of  products.  If  I  allow,  therefore,  two  mediums, 
the  jobber  and  the  retailer,  to  handle  the  whole  annual  product,  as 
middlemen  between  producer  and  consumer,  I  believe,  I  shall 
more  than  cover  all  possible  distributive  expense  laid  on  the 
product.  As  we  have  already  the  producer's  profit  in  all  of  the 
above  items  and  a  great  sliare  of  other  charges,  such  as  transporta- 
tion, etc.,  in  the  item  of  manufacture,  it  will  be  seen  that  we 
shall  have  three  profit  charges,  which  is  probably  all  the  surcharge 
which  can  properly  be  assumed  as  constituting  the  distributive 
value.  The  jobber's  average  profit  at  15  per  cent,  and  the  re- 
tailer's average  gross  profit  at  20  per  cent.,  will  probably  be  ad- 
mitted to  cover  the  total  of  the  possible  cost  of  distribution  from 
the  producer  to  the  consumer. 

We  will  then  have  a  product  of $5,420,000,000 

Wholesale  i)rofit  15  per  cent. 813,000.000 

Retailers'        "     20         " 1,247,000,000 

Add  for  labor  of  buildings,  dwellings,  railroads,  etc.        .          .  200,000,000 

And  we  have $7,680,000,000 

as  the  final  value  of  our  annual  production,  paid  by  the  consumer. 
From  this  gross  product  draw  their  sustenance,  according  to  the 
census,  in  round  numbers,  17,000.000  persons  engaged  in  useful 
occupations.  Dividing  17  into  7,680  we  have  $452  as  the  share 
of  each  worker  male  or  female,  if  each  one  had  an  equal  share, 


I04 

taken  from  the  values  of  the  census  year,  a  year  of  high  prices  and 
full  employment.  As  there  are  5,000,000  engaged  in  ministerial 
work,  professional  and  other  services,  deriving  their  incomes  from 
the  1 2, coo, coo  engaged  in  price-making  occupations,  the  unit 
would  he  7.680  divided  by  12,  or  $640.  Incomes,  however,  are 
very  unevenly  distributed. 

Let  us  examine  the  various  groups  who  divide  this  income. 

Group  i. — Agriculture. 

Agriculture  employs  3,320,000  laborers,  to  whom,  with  their  fami- 
lies (each  group  represents  three  eaters,  of  whom  only  one  can  be 
counted  as  an  earner,  according  to  the  above  census  figure),  we 
allot  $250  per  annum.  The  average  monthly  money  wages  I 
count  as  $12,  or  $r44  per  annum,  and  for  rations,  or  board,  etc. 
$106,  making  a  total  of  $350. 

Multiplied  by  3,320,000  this  gives  us $830,000,000 

Farmers,  gardeners,  etc.,  4,350.000  at  $450     ....        1,957,000,000 

Or $2,787,000,000 

which  would  about  consume  the  total  representing  the  farm  value 
of  agricultural  products,  including  ranch  meat  and  fisheries. 
The  farmer  has  to  pay  out  of  this  share  his  township  and  local 
taxes,  as  well  as  the  improvements  on  his  farms,  and  having  be- 
sides a  larger  family  than  his  hired  help,  to  support  (the  latter 
mostly  being  unmarried),  it  must  be  seen  from  this,  that  the 
majority  of  farmers  are  not  in  much  better  condition  than  the 
farm  laborer.  The  greater  incomes  of  better  situated  farmers 
necessarily  reduce  the  share  of  the  smaller  farmers  in  our  average. 

Group  2. — Manufacturing, 

Gas,  petroleum,  and  mining  production,  i^2, 240,000. 000,  em- 
ploys, as  per  census  enumeration,  3,000,000  persons.  The  annual 
income  of  each  is,  according  to  the  census,  about  $350,  represent- 
ing a  total  of  §1,050.000,000  with  about  250,000  establishments  to 
share  in  $1,190,000,000  or  $4,760  each  of  apparent  profit.  It  is, 
however,  well  known  that  gross  profits  and  real  profits  are  so  far 
apart  that  the  latter  is  frequently  eaten  up  by  expenses  of  all  sorts, 
though  the  former  make  a  formidable  item  in  the  gross  balance 
sheet. 


105 

For  details  on  this  subject  I  refer  to  the  report  of  Carroll  D. 
Wright,  of  1883,  and  his  tables  on  ])rorit  and  earnings.  2,440 
establishments  were  examined,  and  the  number  of  minus  profits, 
/.  c,  loss,  wlicrc  a  respectable  gross  profit  is  shown  on  the  debit 
page,  is  remarkable,  though  not  astonishing  to  men  engaged  in 
active  business. 

Out  of  this  gross  profit  a  great  number  of  earners  are  paid,  who 
are  classified  in  Group  3,  Trade  and  Transportation,  such  as 
laborers,  book-keepers,  clerks,  salesmen,  etc.,  engaged  by  manu- 
facturers and  paid  out  of  their  gross  profits. 

Tiiis  covers  our  $2,240,000,000  of  Group  2. 

Forestry,  $400,000,000,  I  have  taken  from  Mr.  Nimmo's  and 
Mr.  Dodge's  estimate.  Very  excessive  indeed.  The  material  of 
our  lumbering  establishments  is  not  quite  $200,000,000.  Other 
products  of  our  forests  arc  not  of  sufficient  value  to  stretch  this 
stun  in  any  possible  way  to  the  above  sum.  But  we  need  not  be 
too  close,  in  consideration  of  the  many  items  we  have  already  been 
coni])elled  to  deduct  from  the  great  columns  of  wealth,  produced 
by  addition  and  multiplication,  and  we  can  proceed  to 

Group  3. —  Trade  ami  Transportation. 

This  swallows  up  our  $2,060,000,000,  which  I  have  set  down  as 
the  gross  profit  of  retail  and  wholesale  traffic.  Out  of  this  gross 
sum  all  the  railroad  charges  for  freight,  rent,  clerk-hire,  etc.,  con- 
tained in  Class  3  have  to  be  paid.  This  class  contains  1,810,000 
persons  divided  as  follows  : 


Draymen  and  railroad  employes 

Porters,  etc 

Sailors  ,          .          .          .          • 

Clerks  and  book-keepers 

Peddlers         .... 

Saloon-keepers 

Traders  and  Dealers      .      460,000 

Bankers  and  Brokers      .        33.00° 

480,000 
or  $rc 

120,000 
6g,ooo 

530,000 
50,000 
70,000 

-     493,000 

at  $500  a 
a  week  . 

at  $500  a 
500 
600 
600 
700 

2,700 

year 
year 

= 

$240,000,000 
60,000,000 
30.000,000 
318,000,000 
30,000,000 
50,000,000 

1,330,000,000 

1,800,000 

$2,058,000,000 

The  amount  left  over  for  buildings,  etc.,  is  distributed  between 
mechanics,  masons,  bricklayers,  carpenters,  builders,  etc.,  con- 
tained in  Class  3,  which  has  3,800,000  persons,  while   we    have 


ic6 

only  3,000,000  as  directly  engaged  in  manufacture  and  mining. 
Many  of  these,  however,  draw  their  subsistence  from  all  the  four 
groups  of  employments  footed  u[)  in  the  census  of  occupations. 

Group  4. — Professional  and  Personal  Service. 

4,074,238,  as  also  of  Class  3,  bakers,  blacksmiths,  boot-  and 
shoe-makers,  tailors,  seamstresses,  dress-makers,  butchers,  cabinet- 
makers, carpenters,  machinists,  painters  and  varnishers,  plumbers, 
etc.,  not  engaged  in  manufacturing,  and  consequentl}'  not  enumer- 
ated above  in  Class  2, — in  all  nearly  5,000,000  persons  have  to 
draw  their  earnings  from  the  other  three  classes  of  12,000,000 
people  directly  engaged  in  the  price-making  employments.  To 
the  support  of  1,075.000  domestic  servants  the  wealthier  classes 
only  contribute,  while  3,000,000  to  4,000,000  of  other  employ- 
ments draw  their  support  from  nil  classes  alike.  Government 
employes,  soldiers,  teachers,  and  all  those  supported  by  taxation 
are,  as  well,  deriving  their  incomes  from  the  poor  as  from  the  rich. 

We  cannot  follow  up  this  inquiry  into  all  the  details  which  it 
would  be  necessary  to  do,  if  it  were  my  object  to  show  what  each 
individual's,  or  groups  of  individuals',  income  is  from  the  general 
product,  a  task  anyhow  impossible,  as  so  much  of  one  man's  in- 
come contributes  to  that  of  another.  My  object  is  to  draw  an 
outline  of  the  possible  national  income,  its  distributive  value,  and 
to  show  the  share  each  of  the  price-building  elements — not  those 
employed  in  turn  by  these,  but  those  directly  engaged — have  in 
the  distribution  of  products.  Not  only  have  they  to  support  from 
their  incomes  all  professionals,  etc.,  but  the  taxes  supporting  the 
government  of  the  nation,  the  State,  and  township, — all  have  to 
be  paid  from  the  gross  sum  stated.  These  taxes  amount  to 
$600,000,000  annually,  and  are  therefore  (being  mostly  indirect 
taxes  laid  on  consumption  or  real  estate,  meaning  rent)  a  direct 
tax  on  every  dollar  consumed.  Taking  the  annual  saving,  con- 
sisting of  increase  in  buildings,  railroads,  improvement  in  lands, 
and  what  is  carried  over  from  year  to  year  in  movables,  beyond 
the  stock  of  the  previous  year,  to  be  ^700,000,000,  or  10  per  cent, 
then  our  consumption  is  round  $7,000,000,000,  and  the  tax  thereon 
represents  a  clean  8  per  cent,  on  every  dollar  consumed. 

The  savings  not  being  taxed,  and  they  fall  mostly  to  the  rich, 


I07 

it  follows  that  the  working  classes,  eating  up  most  of  their  income, 
find  it  more  to  their  interest  to  scrutinize  their  government  very 
closely  than  the  richer  classes.  The  reverse,  of  course,  is  usually 
observed  as  a  rule  in  society.  I5ut  the  reversion  of  natural  con- 
ditions and  philosophical  truth  has  from  time  immemorial  been 
one  of  the  clever  pieces  of  legerdemain  by  which  the  poorer 
classes  have  been  made  to  carry  the  heaviest  burdens. 

Taking  the  annual  income  of  the  working  classes  to  be  in 
round  numbers  $350  (including  all  incomes  up  to  S^oo,  in  our 
tabulation),  we  shall  find  each  contributing  $29— out  of  his  $350 — 
for  purposes  of  general  taxation,  interest  on  public  debts,  etc. 
This  is  not  yet  taking  into  account  the  tax  he  has  to  pay  on  his 
subsistence  of  home-made  articles,  increased  in  price  by  virtue  of 
our  protective  tariff,  such  as  woollen  goods  and  iron,  and  which 
we  may,  at  times  of  low  prices,  set  down  as  $20  for  each  bread- 
earner,  representing  always  three  persons.  In  times  of  high  prices 
this  amount  is  greatly  enhanced.  The  importance  to  the  working- 
man  of  a  low  rate  of  taxation  and  of  cheap  prices  cannot  be  too 
earnestly  impressed. 

Having  outlined  a  more  solid  basis  than  we  had  heretofore, 
on  which  earnings  and  wealth  creation  can  be  computed,  we  can 
proceed  now  to  the  consideration  of  more  detailed  conditions  of 
social  physiology,  inasmuch  as  I  intend  to  show  by  what  agencies 
the  lower  level  of  earnings,  expressed  now  by  $350,  of  the  work- 
ing classes,  is  gradually  made  to  approach  the  possible  limit,  now 
expressed  in  our  figures  of  $640.  The  latter  expresses  all  that  is 
produced,  all  that  is  divisible,  all  the  distributive  value  of  produc- 
tion contributed  by  the  price-making  elements  of  society. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    WAGES   QUESTION. 

Like  the  scarlet  thread  through  the  cordage  of  the  British  navy, 
the  wages  question  runs  through  every  problem  of  modern  econ- 
omy. The  essence  of  discussion  among  free-traders  and  protec- 
tionists is  the  greater  amount  of  money  earnings  of  the  work- 
ing classes  under  their  respective  leaderships.  I  doubt  not  that, 
to-day  at  least,  the  defenders  of  both  systems  are  sincere  in  their 
belief  that  their  doctrine  is  conducive  to  the  greater  comfort,  the 
higher  earnings,  and  better  living  of  the  working  classes.  I  doubt 
not  that  both  are  sincere  in  their  declaration  that  the  advance- 
ment of  the  working  classes  is  the  main  issue  in  the  war  for  the 
propagation  of  their  idea.  No  other  issue  would  be  worth  fight- 
ing for.  No  one  could  do  successful  fighting  for  any  other  cause 
than  that  of  the  elevation,  the  advancement,  of  the  working 
classes.  It  is  the  tendency  of  the  age.  It  is  in  the  air  we 
breathe,  the  thought  we  think  ;  consciously  and  unconsciously 
every  thing  tends  towards  this  goal.  Unconsciously,  individually 
and  collectively,  we  are  all  working  in  this  age  of  reason  and 
machinery  toward  this  one  great  humanitarian  aim  :  the  liberation 
from  misery  and  want,  the  creation  of  a  new  civilization,  where 
the  enjoyment  of  the  comforts  of  life,  the  intellectual  blessings  of 
genius,  all  the  great  gifts  of  nature,  will  come  within  the  reach  of 
the  poor  disinherited,  who  have  vainly  striven  for  thousands  and 
thousands  of  years.  I  know  that  in  this  I  am  greatly  at  variance 
with  most  of  our  "  friends  of  the  laboring  man,"  and  I  shall  take 
great  pains  to  prove  my  position  by  an  array  of  facts,  which  will 
be  recognized  as  conclusive,  in  establishing  : 

That  the  results  of  modern  development  in  the  industrial  world 
have  been  : 

1.  An  increasing  productiveness  of  labor. 

2.  A  reduction  of  the  proportion  which  labor  bears  to  material 
in  the  price  of  any  given  product. 

io8 


I09 

3-  To  clieapen  thereby  the  cost  of  tlie  product,  and  conse- 
quently to  increase  its  accessibility  to  the  masses. 

4.  To  increase  largely  tlie  money  earnings  of  the  working 
classes  ;  and 

5.  To  reduce  the  hours  of  labor. 

All  these  postulates  have  developed  in  a  progressing  ratio  during 
the  last  hundred  years,  and  if  we  have  lost  sight  of  these  facts  or 
were  led  to  a  contrary  belief,  it  is  only  to  be  ascribed  to  this,  that 
most  investigators  are  satisfied  in  reviewing  a  period  of  brief  dura- 
tion. Ten,  often  five  years,  sufifice  to  build  theories  upon,  which 
would  not  stand  for  a  moment  were  the  period  of  observation  of  a 
wider  range.  We  live  in  our  generation,  but  mankind  lives  on. 
But  even  the  life  of  a  generation  is  marked  by  economic  waves  of 
longer  or  shorter  range,  of  greater  or  smaller  undulation.  It 
would  lead  to  wrong  impressions  were  we  to  judge  of  a  whole 
nation's  life  and  welfare  simply  from  the  narrow  view  which  the 
low  descending  wave  permits  to  the  observer,  himself  wrapped  in 
its  declining  sweep.  We  have  to  take  a  broader  view  and  find 
out  whether  we  have  not  gradually  advanced,  even  when  we  be- 
lieved we  had  declined. 

I. INCREASING    PRODUCTIVENESS    OF    LABOR. 

To  what  extent  the  productiveness  of  labor  can  be  improved,  if 
supported  by  rational  and  scientific  methods,  can  best  be  illus- 
trated by  a  brief  glance  at  the  development  of  agriculture  in 
modern  times.  Agriculture  being  the  most  rudimentary  of  all 
industries,  has  of  course  always  been  singled  out  for  the  full  dis- 
play of  "  natural  laws."  No  "  law  "  has  ever  been  such  a  godsend 
to  the  theorizing  mind  as  the  Malthusian  law.  It  is  the  most 
perfect  lullaby  wherewith  to  sing  to  sleep  the  discontent  of  the 
poor  disinherited  agricultural  laborer  of  England — in  fact,  the 
laborers  of  all  countries.  The  population  having  the  tendency  to 
increase  in  geometrical  proportion,  while  the  products  of  the  land, 
the  land  being  limited,  increases  only  in  an  arithmetical  i)rogres- 
sion,  of  course  there  is  always  a  pressure  of  population  upon  sub- 
sistence. Nothing  could  be  plainer  than  this.  This  being  a  law 
of  nature,  the  next  law  of  nature  to  evolve  from  this  is  preordained 
poverty  and   want.     This  is   equally  plain.     No  contradiction  is 


1  lO 

possible.      No   use  trying   to   fight   and    rebel  against  a  law   of 
nature. 

It  would  be  stale  to  point  out  that,  under  the  free  play  of  inter- 
communication with  all  countries  lying  inside  the  most  extended 
peripheric  lines  from  a  given  centre,  this  law  of  nature  could  not 
show  its  force  until  all  arable  soils  of  the  world  had  come  under 
its  sway.  But  I  wish  to  point  out  the  most  important  disturbance 
which  this  "law"  has  to  undergo  from  the  increasing  productive- 
ness of  the  soil  itself  of  the  land  to  which  this  "  law  "  was  intended 
to  apply.  Thorold  Rogers,  by  his  very  searching  investigation, 
has  been  enabled  to  show  that  in  the  fourteenth  century  eight 
bushels  was  the  common  average  crop  of  an  acre  of  wheat,  from 
two  bushels  of  seed-corn.  This  scanty  supply  necessitated  that 
the  sparse  population,  of  two  and  one  half  millions,  brought  all  the 
arable  land  under  cultivation.  "  Lands  now  retain  unmistakable 
traces  of  ancient  agriculture,  which  have  not  borne  grain  crops  in 
the  memory  of  man.  The  exigencies  of  mediaeval  society  left 
little  ground  which  could  be  available  for  cultivation  for  park  and 
pleasure  "  ("  History  of  Agriculture  and  Prices  in  the  Fourteenth 
Century").  This  continued  to  be  the  case  nearly  up  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighteenth  century.  Then,  under  the  introduction 
of  rotating  crops,  new  vegetables,  root  crops,  etc.,  and  a  better 
system  of  husbandry,  the  proceeds  of  national  husbandry  rose  to 
such  an  extent  that  at  Edward  Young's  time  the  population  of 
7,500,000  had  enough  and  to  spare  for  export.  The  product  of 
an  acre  of  wheat  had  risen  to  twenty  bushels.  Now,  within  one 
hundred  years  from  the  time  of  this  great  traveller  and  writer  on 
agriculture,  the  proceeds  of  an  acre  of  wheat  are  nearly  thirty 
bushels — 29. 85  for  England  and  Wales  in  1884  ;  from  the  same 
soil  more  than  twice  as  large  a  population  finds  a  more  bountiful 
subsistence  than  one  hundred  years  ago. 


1884. 

England   anri  Wales.      United  Kingdom. 
Home  productiuii.              linporliuion. 
Cwts.  of  112  lbs.            Cwts.  of  112  lbs. 

Cereals,  beans,  peas,  etc.    . 

Potatoes     ...... 

112  million. 
56       " 

1 28     million. 
2i        " 

16S       " 

130^        " 

1 1 1 


A  population  of  27,000,000  has  to  feed  on  this  supi)ly,  foreign 
and  home-grown.  The  imports  are  for  the  United  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  whatever  is  imported  for  the  con- 
sumption of  Scotland  and  Ireland  has,  therefore,  to  be  deducted 
from  the  above  total  of  importations.  Vegetables  and  kitchen- 
gardening  are  not  included,  and  it  will,  therefore,  be  seen  that  it 
is  an  easy  estimate  to  say  that  fully  16,000,000  could  be  sujjported 
on  the  soil  of  England  to-day  against  not  8,ooo,oco  one  hundred 
years  ago,  and  2,500,000  five  hundred  years  ago.  I  have  little 
doubt  that  under  a  thorough  reform  of  the  land  laws  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  and  a  granting  of  home  rule  to  the  latter 
kingdom,  the  United  Kingdom  could  to-day  largely  increase  its 
productiveness,  and  could  obtain  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  its 
subsistence  from  its  own  soil,  not  speaking  of  the  unknown  quan- 
tity of  increasing  productiveness. 

Nor  are  we  confined  to  English  agricultural  history  alone  in 
this  proof.     France  offers  the  same  example. 

Under  Henry  IV.,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
France  contained  about  12,000,000  of  inhabitants.  The  average 
yield  per  hectare  was  eight  hectolitres,  or  a  little  over  nine  bushels, 
to  the  acre,  including  seed-corn.  In  the  beginning  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  in  the  latter  days  of  "  le  Roi  Soleil,"  Louis  XIV., 
France  had  a  population  of  19,000,000,  and  Moreau  des  Jonn^s 
("Etat  Economique  et  Social  de  la  France,"  1589  to  17 15),  in  re- 
viewing the  figures  of  Vauban's  tables,  proves  that  the  production 
of  cereals  per  hectare  had  not  increased  at  all  within  one  hundred 
years.  The  average  proceeds  were  nine  bushels  to  the  acre. 
Nearly  every  third  year  was  a  year  of  scarcity  and  suffering.  It 
is  calculated  that  in  the  seventy-five  years  of  the  Sun  King's  time 
there  were  twenty-eight  years  of  scarcity  and  famine.  The  misery 
of  the  people  was  extreme.  Myriads  of  beggars  and  starving 
people,  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  merciless  tax-gaiherer, 
were  wandering  through  the  lands.  At  the  present  time  the 
average  product  per  acre  of  wheat  is  15^  bushels,  or  about  66f 
per  cent,  in  excess  of  the  period  mentioned  above.  Her  popula- 
tion is  38,000,000,  or  just  double  what  it  was  in  Vauban's  time. 
Her  cereal  production  of  all  kinds  in  1700  was  93.000,000  hecto- 
litres or  263,000,000  bushels  ;  in    1S80   it  was  284,000,000  hecto- 


112 


litres  or  804,000,000  bushels  (not  counting  at  all  her  dairying, 
vegetable  culture,  and  kitchen-gardening,  wine-growing,  etc.,  in 
which  her  average  exports  amount  to  more  in  value  than  her 
average  imports  in  grain),  against  an  import  of  grain  and  flour 
averaging  for  the  ten  years  from  1871  to  1880  50,000,000  bushels 
a  year.  It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  if  France  concentrated  all 
her  agricultural  energies  on  the  food  supply  of  her  own  people, 
she  could  support  with  ease  fully  twice  as  many  people,  upon  a 
reduced  territory,  as  she  found  hard  work  to  keep  above  the 
starvation  point  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 

If  we  divide  her  production  per  capita,  then  in  1700  her  19,000,- 
000  had  i3];§- bushels  of  grain  each,  while  in  18S0  the  share  of 
each  of  her  38,000,000  of  inhabitants  was  213^^  bushels. 

From  all  of  which  it  would  appear  that  it  is  not  well  to  be  bound 
to  a  theory  or  a  so-called  natural  law.  It  is  better  to  look  to  facts 
than  to  remain  closed  up  in  our  rent  theories  and  wage-fund  laws, 
etc.  For  while  Dame  Theory  is  knitting  her  strait-jackets  and 
leading-strings,  new-grown  facts  are  springing  up  all  around  her, 
and  in  the  vigorous  exercise  of  tlicir  youthful  j)owers  are  apt  to 
destroy  the  most  carefully  guarded  flower-beds  of  the  old  lady. 

Another  law,  boldly  taken  hold  of  by  writers  who  are  very  out- 
spoken in  their  condemnation  of  the  Malthusian  theory,  is  that  of 

DIMINISHING    RETURNS. 

Closely  examined,  the  two  look  so  much  alike  that  they 
miaht  be  taken  as  twin  brothers.  Of  course  if  man  were  to 
be  considered  in  the  same  light  as  a  yoke  of  working  oxen,  or  a 
hand  turning  the  sod  with  a  stick,  as  our  remote  ancestors 
have  done,  we  would  be  justified  in  speaking  of  diminishing 
returns.  If  the  soil  is  left  to  itself  and  its  own  recuperative 
power,  if  it  is  treated  with  the  careless  indifference  in  which  our 
Western  wheat-growers  extract  all  that  is  in  the  soil,  without 
thinking  of  returning  what  is  taken  from  it,  to  keej)  u])  or  increase 
its  fecundity,  then  of  course  we  may  speak  of  diminishing  returns. 
Man,  however,  is  a  wonderful  being.  When  hard  pressed  by 
necessity,  and  left  free  to  exercise  his  faculties,  little  doubt  needs  be 
entertained,  that  he  will  even  turn  the  niggardliness  of  nature  into 
a  prize  from  the  lottery  of  life. 


113 

How  true  this  is  can  be  seen  from  the  example  of  Holland. 
There  we  have  a  soil  almost  conquered  from  the  sands  of  an  ever- 
aggressive  sea  by  incessant  toil  and  watchfulness  of  man.  The 
soil  has  been  worked  from  generation  to  generation  with  a  loving 
care,  which  can  only  l)c  understood  by  those  who  have  been 
reared  among  the  small  farmers  of  Europe,  the  tillers  and  owners 
of  their  land.  Now  this  little  stretch  of  land,  cultivated  since 
times  immemorial,  of  the  extent  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
raises  food  enough  for  a  po;)uLition  of  four  millions  of  people  and 
has  enough  to  spare  for  export.  Her  net  imports,  in  agricultural 
produce,  consist  of  cereals  to  the  amount  of  50,000,000  florins, 
against  exports  of  75,000,000  florins  in  garden  and  dairy  produce 
animals,  etc.,  as  in  18S0.  True,  if  she  had  to  raise  all  her  bread- 
crops  on  her  own  soil,  she  might  not  do  quite  so  well.  But  by  a 
free  exchange  of  her  surplus  in  such  produce  in  which  she  has 
acquired  certain  facilities,  against  the  produce  of  more  juvenile 
soils,  requiring  less  labor  and  outlay,  the  whole  population  is  sup- 
plied witli  food  over  and  above  their  needs.  If  ihe  intensity  of 
farming,  ruling  in  the  Low  Countries,  made  possible  by  peasant 
ownership  alone,  were  applied  to  the  far  more  fertile  soils  of 
England,  Wales,  and  Ireland,  not  speaking  at  all  of  Scotland,  then 
a  population  of  28  to  30  millions  could  be  easily  supplied  from 
her  own  fields  and  gardens,  while  now  nearly  one  half  of  her 
needs  has  to  be  brought  from  abroad.  The  same  system  of  farming, 
adopted  in  the  United  States,  would  feed  1,000  millions.  We  do 
not  hear  that  the  Dutch  have  no  moving  room.  We  do  not  hear 
as  much  of  over-population,  as  in  far  less  densely  settled  countries. 
We  do  not  hear  very  much  of  poor-rates  and  agricultural  ])aupers, 
but  quite  on  the  contrary  of  wealth  and  comfort.  Emile  de 
Laveleye  says  on  this  subject,  in  "  Systems  of  Land  Tenures  in 
Various  Countries  "  : 

"The  farmers  of  Holland  lead  a  comfortable,  well-to-do,  and 
cheerful  life.  They  are  well-housed  and  excellently  clothed. 
They  have  china-ware  and  plate  on  their  side-boards,  tons  of  gold 
at  their  notaries,  public  securities  in  their  s^afes,  and  in  their 
stables  excellent  horses.  Their  wives  are  bedecked  with  splendid 
corals  and  gold.  They  do  not  work  themselves  to  death.  On  the 
ice  in  winter,  at  the  Kerraes  in  summer,  they  enjoy  themselves 
with  the  zest  of  men  whose  minds  are  free  from  care. 


114 

"  The  Belgian  farmer  is  neither  as  rich  as  his  Dutch  neighbor, 
nor  can  he  enjoy  himself  in  the  same  way. 

"  One  reason  is,  that  in  Holland  the  townspeople  have  at  all 
times  invested  their  savings  in  public  securities,  and  generally  left 
landed  property  alone,  which  has  thus  remained  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  peasants.  In  Belgium,  on  the  other  hand,  the  nobility 
have  retained  large  landed  property,  and  capitalists  have  eagerly 
bought  estates.  Hence  a  good  many  of  the  peasants  have  become 
mere  tenants. 

"To  meet  with  the  ideal  of  rural  life,  you  must  look  for  it 
in  Groningen  or  in  Upper  Bavaria." 

Per  contra  on  farming  results  in  Belgium  under  opposite  condi- 
tions of  tenure,  we  copy  the  following  picture  from  the  pen  of  the 
same  authority  : 

"  In  my  work  on  the  rural  economy  of  Belgium,  I  made  some 
reflections  on  the  indifferent  condition  of  the  Flemish  peasants, 
from  which  inferences  adverse  to  peasant  proprietorship  have 
been  drawn.  These  conclusions  are  erroneous.  The  evil  arises 
from  the  fact  that  there  are  too  few  small  proprietors  and  too 
many  small  tenants  among  the  peasantry  of  Flanders. 

"  If  you  want  to  find  a  district  in  Belgium  where  the  peasants 
are  well-off,  you  must  go  to  Lower  Luxembourg.  There  the  land 
is  divided  into  a  multitude  of  peasant  properties,  almost  the  whole 
of  which  are  cultivated  by  the  owners  themselves.  Each  of  these 
manages  his  own  farm,  and  under  the  shadow  of  his  fruit-trees  en- 
joys in  security  what  he  earns  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  This  is 
a  kind  of  rural  opulence,  due  not  to  the  possession  of  large  capi- 
tal, but  to  the  abundance  of  rural  produce.  No  one  is  rich 
enough  to  live  in  idleness  ;  none  so  poor  as  to  suffer  from  want. 
The  peasant  there  is  also  more  enlightened  than  in  Flanders,  and 
more  independent.  The  situation  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Canton  of  Orisons  in  Switzerland. 

"  A  few  figures  will  indicate  the  contrast  between  Flanders  and 
Luxembourg  ;  in  each  of  the  two  provinces  I  shall  select  a  normal 
district. 

"  F/anders. —Dislnct  of  St.  Nicholas,  in  tlie  Pays  de  Waes. 
"Farm  laborer's  wages,  i  franc  lo  centimes  ])er  day. 

«  A  r  1       1         1    J  i  l^y  owners,      6,556  hectares. 

Area  of  land  worked  ]  ^^J  ^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^         u 


"5 

"  Luxeinl'ourg. — Bouillon  and  Paliseal  district.      Farm   laborer's 

wages,  2  francs  per  day. 

a  .  f  ,       ,         1    J  i  by  owners,  10,690  hectares. 

Area  of  land  worked  i  ,      .  .  '       '  /^         ., 

(  by  tenants,    1,563 

'"riuis,  in  lower  Luxembourg,  the  laborer's  wages  are  double 
what  they  are  in  Flanders,  although  most  articles  of  food,  es- 
pecially meat  and  potatoes,  are  cheaper  in  llie  former  province." 

But  not  only  arc  farm  laborer's  wages  influenced  by  the  tenure 
of  land,  but  all  other  wages  seem  to  be  higher  or  lower,  according 
to  the  predominance  of  peasant  proprietorship  on  the  one  hand, 
or  tenant  farming  and  the  prevalence  of  large  estates  on  the  other 
hand.  The  German  census  figures  recently  published  bring  a 
tabulation  of  German  landholdings  in  the  different  states  and 
provinces-of  the  empire.  If  we  compare  this  with  the  general  average 
of  wages  ruling  in  the  same  parts,  as  prepared  with  great  care  by 
the  Statistical  Society,  Concordia,  we  can  see  at  once  that  there  is 
substantial  proof  for  this  assertion.  Not  to  weary  the  reader  with 
a  great  display  of  figures,  I  shall  only  express  the  percentage 
which  large  holdings,  comprising  100  hectares  or  247  acres  and 
above,  bear  to  the  general  acreage  of  farming  land,  the  number 
of  such  holdings,  and  the  general  average  of  weekly  wages  : 

TABLE    OF    LARGE    LANDHOLDINGS    IN    GERMANY    AND    OF  WEEKLY 

WAGE-RATES. 


States  and  provinces 
ot  the  emi)ire. 


Silesia  . 
East-Prussia   . 
Tosen    . 
Pmnerania 
15iamlenl)in"g 
Saxony,  kingdom 
Anhalt  .      .     . 
Saxony.  Prussia 
Hesse-Nassau 
Uraunsthweig 
Bavnria 
Hanover    . 
Baden    . 

Alsnce,  Lorraine 
Wurtemlierg  . 
Westphalia 
Rhenish  Prussia 


Xo.  of  holders 
of  100  hect's 
and  above. 


2,S8o 

3,199 

2,724 

2,876 

2,202 

75S 

174 

1,573 

287 

165 
594 
623 

83 
394 
141 
276 
246 


Average  hold- 
ings of  each 
of  this  class 
in  hectares. 


349 
292 
400 
390 
370 
184 

305 
292 
170 
242 
163 
1S7 
160 
146 
161 

177 
146 


Percentage  of 
large  hold'gs 
to  the  whole 
acreage. 


34-5 
33.6 

55-3 
57-4 
3^-3 
14. 1 
350 
27.0 

6.7 
17.9 

2.3 
6.9 

1. 8 

7-3 
2.0 

4.3 

2-7 


Average  rate 
of  -Meekly 
wages  of 
Working  men 
employed  in 
trades  and 
factories. 


2.85 
2.90 
2.63 
2,90 

2.74 
2.93 

304 

315 
3. 23 

3.22 
320 
3-33 
3  62 
3^0 

3.65 
3.70 


ii6 

2. REDUCTION  OF  THE  PROPORTION  OF  LABOR     TO    MATERIAL    111 

THE    PRODUCT. 

The  great  quantities  of  products  of  all  kinds  vainly  seeking  a 
market  after  brief  periods  of  great,  and,  as  it  seems,  normal 
activity,  which  phenomenon  is  commonly  called  over-production, 
shows  that  the  forces  which  direct  the  distribution  of  products  and 
wealth  have  not  kept  i)ace  with  the  development  of  the  produc- 
tive power  of  civilized  labor,  helped  by  modern  invention.  This 
alone  would  be  sufficient  to  show  that  labor  is  far  more  produc- 
tive than  ever  before  ;  in  other  words,  that  it  requires  kss  labor 
than  ever  before  to  turn  a  given  material  into  a  given  product  ;  or 
that  the  labor  part  in  a  given  fabric  has  been  a  decreasing  one. 
But  as  this  proof  may  smack  somewhat  of  the  theorizing  method, 
I  will  prove  its  correctness  by  historical  facts. 

No  government  has  been  so  industrious,  under  all  sorts  of 
regimes,  as  the  French  in  appointing  commissions  and  reporting 
on  French  labor  and  production.  The  woollen  industry  in  France 
received  great  animation  through  Colbert's  care  and  attention. 
As  a  manufacturing  industry  it  received  a  new  start  through  the 
Minister  in  1648.  In  1669  he  instituted  an  inquiry  through  the 
governors  of  provinces  into  the  state  of  these  industries.  The 
report  on  the  woollen  industry  shows  that  there  were  60,440 
workmen  employed  in  the  annual  production  of  670,540  pieces  of 
cloth  at  20  metres  or  22  yards,  valued  at  3  francs  the  metre,  or  60 
a  piece,  equal  to  40.000,000  francs,  or  650  francs  the  annual 
product  of  each  workingman.  As  the  price  of  material  and  the 
profit  of  the  master  are  included  in  this  annual  product  ])er  hand, 
the  estimate  based  thereon  is  cerlaialy  very  moderate,  of  : 

Material  40  per  cent,  and  labor  60  per  cent.      This  is  allowing  25 

per  cent,  for  profit  and  expenses         ......    150  francs 

I  franc  a  day,  or  19  cents,  for  wages  of  300  days      ....   300 

Certainly  a  moderate  rate,  if  we  consider  that  the  workingman  had 
to  be  kept  and  fed  out  of  this  sum,  including  liis  family,  if  he 
had  any,  which  leaves  for  raw  material 200 

650      " 

In  1 81 2  the  production  had  increased  to  370,000,000,  whereof 
i6o,ooo,oco  was  raw  material,  and  2 10, coo, 000  labor  and  profit 
and  expenses,  about  half  and  half,  which,  giving  only  the  material 


117 

cost  and  wages,  brings  the  proportion  to  :  Material,  57  per  cent, 
ar.d  labor  43  per  cent. 

In  1850  Moreau  de  Jonnes,  in  an  inquiry  on  the  state  of  the 
French  industries  undertaken  under  his  supervision,  reports  the 
following  proportions  in  the  woollen  industries  of  that  date  : 

Total  prodiiclion  ......  413,000,000  fr. 

Raw  nialeiial        .  ......  252,000,000  fr. 

Labor  ami  profit,  etc.     ......  163,000,000  fr. 

of  which  latter  item  51  per  cent,  goes  to  labor  and  49  per  cent, 
to  profit  and  expense,  which  makes  our  count  come  for  1850  : 
Material,  75  per  cent.  ;  labor,  25  ]ier  cent. 

The  commission  aiipointed  by  the  Corps  Legislatif  of  France 
in  1872  made  its  report  through  M.  N.  Ducarre,  one  of  its 
members,  and  found  about  the  same  proportion  of  material  and 
labor  cost  as  was  found  by  M.  Moreau  de  Jonnes  in  1S50. 

In  1S69  and  1870,  from  a  report  of  Consul  Walker  from  state- 
ments made  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  at  Elboeuf,  two  mills, 
one  making  fancy  and  the  other  plain  woollen  cloth,  had  about 
this  proportion  :  Material,  $203,000,  or  68  per  cent.  ;  labor, 
$96,000,  or  32  per  cent. 

But  as  Elboeuf  makes  fine  woollen  goods  which  require  a 
greater  share  of  labor,  this  percentage  will  represent  the  highest 
proportionate  cost  of  labor  in  the  woollen  industries  in  France, 
which  proportion  would  be  largely  reduced  if  the  other  branches, 
representing  a  lower  labor  cost  in  the  production,  would  be 
brought  in  to  bear  their  ratio. 

The  earnings  of  the  working  classes  have  been  increased  in 
French  woollen  industries  in  the  same  ratio  that  the  labor  cost 
has  been  reduced.  I  sliall  show  hereafter  the  facts  upon  which 
this  statement  is  based. 

Our  own  woollen  manufacture  cannot  be  used  to  serve  as  an  ex- 
ample, on  account  of  the  very  violent  fluctuations  in  the  material 
jirice  caused  by  tariff  legislation,  currency  fluctuations,  and  other 
means  of  wealth-creating  by  statute.  We  may  incidentally  refer  to 
our  woollen  industry  in  1S60,  when  we  came  nearest  to  a  free  raw 
material  basis.  Then  our  material  cost  was  $39,000,000,  and  labor 
counted  $10,000,000,  or  in  percentages  79I  to  20J — a  lower  labor 
cost  than  in  any  other  country,  which,  however,  may  be  partially 


ii8 


ascribed  to  a  cheaper  class  of  goods  being  the  bulk  of  our  produc- 
tion, and  which  require  less  labor. 

In  iSSo  our  wool  prices  were  so  much  inflated  by  the  "  boom," 
that  I  should  do  little  justice  to  this  inquiry  by  reviewing  figures 
of  that  year. 

In  cotton  goods  we  are  far  more  competent  to  judge,  by  compar- 
ing i860  to  1880,  the  price  of  cotton  being  about  the  same  at  both 
periods. 


Materials 

Labor         .... 

Proportion  material  and  labor 


i860. 


i83o. 


$52,000,000 
22,000,000 
70  X  30 


§113,000,000 
45.000,000 
72  ^  X  27  I 


All  this  is  the  direct  labor  cost  only,  and  does  not  cover  any 
general  or  other  mill-expense  account. 

Taking  our  manufacturing  production  as  a  whole  for  each  census 
year  of  the  last  four  decades,  the  positions  are  as  follows  : 


Proportion  of 
material  to  labor. 


70  X  30 

74  t  X  25 
■j(y\  X  23f 

75  X  22 


i 


We  have  here  a  regularly  progressing  reduction  in  labor  cost 
and  increasing  quantity  produced  by  labor. 

Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  in  a  recent  publication  of  a  very  ingen- 
iously constructed  chart,  gives  a  very  clear  presentation  of  decreas- 
ing cost,  of  increasing  earnings,  and  of  decreasing  hours,  and  of 
declining  rale  of  profit  in  the  cotton  industries.  Taking  standard 
cotton-sheeting  for  his  illustration,  he  shows  that  the  production 
per  hand  was,  in  a  particular  mill : 


In  1S40    . 
"  iSSo    . 
and  in  1883  to  1885 


9,600  yds. 
28,032     " 
29,604     " 


"9 

and  in  money  value  : 

In  1840 $S68 

"  1SS3 1,973 

and  in  1SS5 1,924 


Were  spindles  used 
And  liantis  employed 
Or  spindles  per  hand 


In  1840. 


12,500 

530 

24 


1883. 


30,824 

527 
58 


1885. 


35.720 
579 


I  may  perhaps  here  recall  a  statement  made  in  a  previous  chap- 
ter, that  Germany's  productiveness  in  the  cotton  industry  is  given 
as  2,700  spindles  per  100  hands,  or  27  per  hand,  and  occupying 
therefore  the  position  now,  which  was  the  standard  of  the  New 
England  mill  more  than  forty  years  ago. 

Tliat  increasing  productiveness,  meaning  greater  production, 
/.  c,  more  product  to  go  around,  consequently  greater  accessi- 
bility, in  other  words,  cheapness,  has  been  the  result  of  modern 
civilized  labor,  cannot  be  disputed.  That  the  labor  part  in  any 
given  product  has  been  a  decreasing  one  has  been  demonstrated, 
and  cannot  be  a  matter  of  further  controversy.  The  proof  that 
the  United  States  have  made  greatest  progress  in  this  direction 
has  been  the  subject-matter  of  these  pages. 

3. — THE  CHEAPENING  OF  THE  PRODUCT 

has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  the  decreasing  labor  part.  The  main 
causes  leading  to  this  have  been  pointed  out  in  Chapter  XI.  I 
will  give  here  a  few  additional  examples  of  facts.  A  given 
product,  alike  in  nature  and  quality  at  the  different  periods,  is 
best  to  serve  as  a  leading  example. 

Mr.  Atkinson  s  figures  of  a  certain  brand  of  sheeting  : 

1840.  1883.        1883-1885. 

Price  per  yard     .         .         cents,     g.04  7.04  6.5 

A  decline  of  28  per  cent,  within  forty-five  years  in  an  article 
which,  at  both  ends  of  the  period,  was  manufactured  by  the  same 
processes  of  mill  labor. 

For  England  I  have  no  data  at  present.  Leone  Levi's  recently 
published  difference  of  price  of  cotton  cloth  in  1S69  to  1883  is  in- 


I20 

admissible  for  comparison,  as  raw  cotton  in  1S69  was  12.33^.  in 
Liverpool,  against  5.60^/.  in  1883. 

While  prices  of  pig-iron  in  England  were  ranging  in  times  of 
peace  a  hundred  years  ago  from  ^5  to  ^8  a  ton  ($24  to  $38.50), 
and  kept  within  this  circle  down  to  the  time  of  1836,  the  present 
price  is  ranging  from  ;^^s.  to  55^.,  or  $8  to  $12  50  a  ton. 

English  pig-lead,  which  ruled  a  hundred  years  ago  down  to  1836 
at^20tO;^22  (I  always  exclude  periods  of  war),  taken  from 
price  quotations  in  Tooke's  "  History  of  Prices,"  is  ruling  now  at 
;^II.5. 

British  bar-iron,  1845  to  1850,  ;^ 8,  is  1885,  ;^6. 

In  all  these  annotations  I  take  pains  to  compare  periods  of  like 
undisturbed  conditions,  where  only  regular  influences  were  acting 
as  price  builders.  The  tendency  has  been  right  through  to  reduce 
prices  by  the  play  of  mental  forces,  which  nowhere  were  under 
fuller  activity  than  in  the  United  States,  and  nowhere  were  greater 
results  achieved  in  reducing  the  labor  cost  and  cheapening  pro- 
duction, as  shown  in  cottons  and  other  fields  of  production,  and 
illustrated  heretofore  by  facts  and  comparisons. 

4. — INCREASING  EARNINGS  OF  THE   WORKING  CLASSES. 

It  is  a  common  impression  that  all  this  great  wealth-creating 
development  has  benefited  only  capital,  or  rather  the  holder  of 
capital,  and  that  the  poor  are  getting  but  a  small  share.  That  the 
rich  are  getting  richer,  and  the  poor  poorer,  is  repeated  daily  by 
unthinking  minds.  "  Progress  and  poverty  "  has  been  stated 
only  lately  as  being  the  Cain's  brand  upon  the  brow  of  our  age. 
That  we  are  far  from  having  reached  a  satisfactory  condition  of 
society,  that  toil  is  not  sufificiently  remunerated,  that  speculation 
and  monopolizing  tendencies  find  too  easy  play  and  arrogate  too 
much  of  the  national  i)roduct,  through  legislative  connivance,  I 
am  too  well  aware.  I  have  too  frequently  pointed  to  these 
anomalies,  that  I  need  to  fear  to  be  considered  a  panegyrist  of  our 
present  condition.  That,  however,  our  age  is  the  best  in  which 
man  ever  lived,  is  a  matter  beyond  doubt.  Of  course  I  speak  of 
Western  civilization  only,  and,  especially  in  this  connection, 
of  America. 

The  fact  alone  of  the  great  productiveness  of  our  age,  the  great 


I2T 


Stores  of  grains,  of  dry  goods,  of  all  the  many  means  of  comfort 
which  have  to  he  consumed  by  the  millions,  which  have  to  find  a 
market  among  the  working  classes,  if  they  are  to  be  of  use  at  all, 
is  alone  an  unfailing  sign  of  the  great  advantages  which  the  work- 
ing classes  derive  from  the  great  abundance  of  commodities,  which 
is  the  result  of  our  recent  development. 

If  there  was  ever  an  age  worth  living  in,  it  is  the  present  one. 
If  there  was  ever  an  age  in  which  a  solid  footing  iox prp^7-css  from 
poverty  was  given,  it  is  the  present  age.  If  there  was  ever  a 
country  in  which  the  conditions  are  prepared  for  the  highest 
attainable  well-being  of  the  working  classes,  it  is  America.  The 
means  are  a  thand,  but  it  depends  on  the  working  classes  to  use 
them  in  the  right  direction.  That  this  end  cannot  be  reached  by 
any  systematized,  ready-made  doctrine,  is  too  plain  to  those  who 
have  studied  the  development  of  the  social  organism.  To  those 
the  latter  is  a  living  body.  Its  ills  cannot  be  treated  with  Ready- 
Relief  Pills.  It  is  a  sound  organism,  and  a  wise  physician  trusts 
more  to  the  recuperative  powers  of  the  body,  and  to  the  removal 
from  and  of  dangerous  influences,  than  to  drugging,  cupping,  or 
bleeding. 

I  am  far  from  being  an  advocate  of  capitalism,  pure  and 
simple,  or  a  great  admirer  of  the  Manchester  school.  If  any 
reforms  are  to  be  undertaken  in  our  body  politic,  however,  they 
must  before  all  be  based  upon  a  clear,  unalloyed  statement  of 
facts,  and  I  mean  to  give  facts.  I  am  not  a  believer  in  violent 
measures  of  relief.  I  believe  that  the  quiet  undercurrent  in  a  free 
social  organism  is  constantly  moving  in  an  upward  direction.  All 
that  society  or  its  representative,  the  State,  has  to  do,  is  to  remove  ob- 
stacles placed  in  the  way  of  free  development  of  natural  forces,  and 
to  guard  the  rights  of  the  individual  from  aggression  or  spoliation. 

Now,  it  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  capital,  unless  invested  in 
land  or  in  very  carefully  selected  securities,  again  based  on  land, 
is  of  a  very  fleeting,  uncertain  nature.  An  absolute  creation  of 
labor,  as  thought  is  a  creation  of  the  brain,  its  existence  would 
cease  inside  of  an  average  of  two  to  three  years  if  labor  would 
cease  in  the  work  of  its  reproduction.  This  is,  however,  incon- 
ceivable as  the  stoppage  of  digestion  in  a  healthy  organism. 
Capital  wastes  away  much  more  quickly  than  it  is  created,  as  soon 


122 

as  labor  is  thrown  out  of   full   employment.     This  absolute  result 
of  non-acliviiy  is   the    secret,  unconscious    spring    which   moves 
capital  to  seek  investment  of  some  kind.     This  seeking  of  invest- 
ment is  nothing  but   an  attempt  to  find  some  kind  of  labor  which 
will  be  able  to  reproduce  the  capital,  or,  as  people  are  in  the  habit 
of  calling  it,  the  money,  put  into  any  kind  of  an  enterprise.     Rail- 
road-building, mill-building,  wholesale  killing  (as  we  may  call  the 
government  business  of  war-making,  for  whose  payment  govern- 
ment securities  are  issued) — all  are  enterprises  of  this  kind,  wherein 
capital  finds  a  grave  when  they  are  found  to  have  been  unsuccess- 
ful.    Labor,  however,  is  employed  to  the  full  extent  of  tlie  invest^ 
ment,  or,  to  speak  in   homely  terms,  as  long  as  the  money  lasts. 
If  the  machinery  created  is  a  full   necessity,  then  reproduction  of 
capital  will   go  on  ;  otherwise  it  will   be  considered  a  thing  that 
was,  and  is  no  more.     The  more  abundant  capital,  the  smaller  the 
share  of  profit,  or  interest,  or  dividend,  whatever  it  may  be  called. 
This  again  proves  the  great  competition  of  capital  for  labor  which 
is  constantly  going  on,  unconsciously  of  course,  and  perhaps  not 
recognized   by  these   terms,  but  this  is  the  true  meaning.     When 
work  is  abundant,  then  profits  are  high.     Great  activity  at  repro- 
duction  of  capital.     Then  capital,  perhaps,  gets  an  undue  share. 
But  when  the  current  moves  backward,  then  vc^  vict'is.     Then  we 
hear  of  our  mining  shares.   Northern    Pacific   and  West  Shore 
bonds,  Washington  woollen  mills,  and  all  the  stocks  of  iron  and 
steel  mills,  etc.;  then   all  these  schemes  tell  the  story  of  greed 
working  its  own  destruction,  or  of  labor  being  put  into  enterprise 
which   did   not  pay.     But  even  in  paying,  honest,  well-organized 
enterprises,  in  the  best-managed  cotton-mills  of  the  country,  the 
tendency  of  the  capital  share  in  the  process  of  production  has 
been  a  progressively  declining  one  through  the  large  competition 
of  capital  for  investment  or  labor.     The  proportion  of  the  yard 
price  in    1840  requisite  in  paying  for  a  profit  of  10  per  cent,  on 
fixed  capital  of  a  cotton  mill,  manufacturing  standard  sheeting  was 

1. 18  cents, 
or  of  the  yard  price      .         .         .         .13  per  cent. 
In  18S3 — io  per  cent,  was    .         .         .  0.43       " 

or  cf  tlie  yard  price      ....       6  " 

In  18S5 — 6  per  cent,  was     .  .  .  0.25       " 

or  of  the  yard  price      .  .  .  .4  " 

per  yard  of  the  same  sheeting. 


123 

In  the  cotton  industries  of  England  the  same  results  of  decreas- 
ing capital  earnings  are  observable.  I  refer  here  to  a  financial 
statement  of  sixty-five  cotton-spinning  establishments  of  Oldliam, 
in  the  London  Economist  of  May  i6th  of  this  year.  They  make  a 
showing  of  an  average  of  4  per  cent,  of  annual  net  earnings, 
against  6  per  cent,  in  1883. 

PROGRESSIVE    RISE    IN    FRANCE    AND    ENGLAND. 

For  the  establishment  of  the  fact  of  progression  of  earnings,  I 
will  briffly  review  France,  England,  and  the  United  States.  John 
Locke  ("Journal  of  Travels  in  France")  in  1677  estimated  the 
income  of  a  French  peasant  at  eight  cents  a  day,  hardly  enough 
to  keep  himself  and  family  in  bread.  Moreau  des  Jonnes  finds 
this  estimate  high,  as  it  applies  to  one  of  the  best  districts.  Fr. 
120,  or  ^24,  for  300  working  days,  was,  according  to  the  calcula- 
tion of  this  statistician,  the  whole  income  of  a  peasant  and  wife, 
both  working  the  farm.  Corn  prices  were  higher  than  to-day. 
Mme.  de  Maintenon,  writing  in  1716,  says  that  in  Bourbonnais 
1,700  farms  were  abandoned.  As  the  cause  is  given  that  the 
animals  were  seized  by  the  ta.K-gatherers,  and  that  there  was  noth- 
ing left  to  the  poor  country  people  to  work  and  to  cultivate  the 
soil.  Li  1840  the  income  of  the  farmer  was  estimated  at  32  cents 
a  day,  or  for  the  year  456  francs,  or  over  $90.  In  1856  Moreau 
des  Jonnes  estimated  the  income  at  562  francs,  or  $112.  In 
manufacturing  industries  in  1850  the  rates  of  pay  were  :  for  men, 
2  francs,  or  38  cents  ;  for  women,  i  franc,  or  19  cents;  and  for 
children,  12  to  14  cents. 

In  1876  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  appointed  by  the  National 
Assembly  made  this  statement  through  Mr.  M.  Ducarre  : 

TABLE    OF    DAILY    AVERAGE    WAGES. 


1853- 

1871. 

Paris     . 
Depts.  . 

Men 
'    \  Women 

Men      . 
■    \  Women 

.     3.82  fr. 
.     2.12  fr. 
.     2.06  fr. 
.      1.07  fr. 

or  72  cents, 
or  40  cents, 
or  39  cents, 
or  20  cents. 

4.99  fr. 
2.78  fr. 
2.90  fr. 
1.48  fr. 

or  95  cents, 
or  53  cents, 
or  56  cents, 
or  28  cents. 

Maurice  Block's  Annuaire  Staiistique  for  1884  gives  this  as  the 
average  of  wages,  according  to  the  Mayor's  report  of  the  capital 
cities  of  the  departments  : 


124 
DAILY    AVERAGE    WAGES. 

i8s3- 

1S80. 

Paris 
Depts.  . 

Men 

■  1  Women 

Men      . 

■  ^  Women 

3.82  fr.,  or  72  cents. 

2.12  fr.,  or  40  cents. 

2.06  fr.,  or  39  cents. 

.      1.07  fr.,  or  20  cents. 

5  59fr- 
2.92  fr. 

3-35  fr- 
1.75  fr. 

,  or  $[.06. 
,  or  56  cents. 
,  or  63  cents. 
,  or  33  cents. 

which,  compared  to  the  wages  rate  of  1861,  shows  the  continuity 
of  a  slow  but  permanent  rise. 

It  is  well  to  say  in  this  connection  that  the  frequently  quoted 
Government  Report  informs  us  of  the  otherwise  well-authenticated 
fact,  that  wages  in  France  rise  slowly,  but  that  they  never  recede 
from  the  height  once  attained. 

For  England  we  have  still  more  complete  data  of  comparative 
earnings  in  an  increasing  ratio.  Before  establishing  the  rate 
of  wages  paid  a  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  good  old  times  had 
full  swing,  we  have  to  look  at  the  price  of  corn.  To  understand 
the  importance  of  this,  it  is  necessary  to  know  that,  according  to 
Mulhall's  calculations,  the  following  percentage  is  taken  for  food 
alone,  when  wages  are  as  stated  below  : 


RATES    RULING    IN 

COUNTRIE 

3. 

Average  wages  per  week. 

Wages. 

Food. 

Ratio  in  sur- 
plus lor 
oUur  exp. 

Great  Britain      .     .      .     3i.r.  or     $7.43 

France 21       "        504 

Germany 16       "        384 

United  States     ...     48      "      11.52 

100 
100 
100 
100 

45 
57 
62 

33 

55 
43 

38 
67 

About  1795  Frederic  Eden  took  down  the  average  earnings  of 
four  agricultural  families  for  each  of  twelve  counties,  fitty-one 
families  as  stated  by  Thorold  Rogers.  They  are  los.  g</.,  or 
$2.58  per  family,  in  which  about  two  thirds  may  stand  for  the 

'  It  is  evident  that  Mulhall  does  not  sufficiently  consider  that  high  earnings 
conduce  to  better  feeding,  as  well  as  to  a  greater  surplus  for  other  purposes. 
While  it  is  certain  that  low  earnings  are  first  used  to  supply  food  and  leave 
only  a  small  surplus  for  other  expenses,  as  in  Germany,  it  does  by  no  means 
follow  that  with  increasing  earnings  the  ratio  for  food  should  not  rise  in  a  far 
greater  degree  than  given  above. 


125 

earnings  of  the  head  of  the  family.  Robbed  of  his  patrimony 
through  the  various  enclosure  acts,  wiili  corn  averaging  for  the 
last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  at  51  J.  {Sis.  per  quarter 
being  the  price  in  1795),  of  course  the  poor-rates  had  to  make  up 
for  the  deficiency. 

The  weekly  wages  of  agricultural  laborers  in  Northumberland 
are  stated  in  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Agriculture 
(Leoni  Levi,  1S85)  : 


1851 
1861 
1871 
iS8i 


Weekly 
wages. 

IIS. 

16s.  Gd.  48 

15      6  55 

18  42 

Present  price,  32 


Average  price  of 
wheat  (or  five  years. 

56^-.  quar.  or  $1.68  bushel. 
1.42 
"        1.65        " 
1.25 
.96 


Wages  rose  with  a  progressive  decline  of  wheat. 
In  17S5  : 

Carpenlers'  wages  were  .         ....  2s.     bd.,  or  60  cents  a  day. 

Bricklnytrs'         "  

Masons'  "  ..... 

Plumbers'  "  

The  rate  of  increase  has  been  about  as  follows 


(Man- 
]  Chester.) 

52 
hours. 


2 

4 

"   57 

2 

10 

"  68 

3 

3 

"  73 

1785. 

1850. 

i 
i860.         1870. 

1877. 

1883. 


Joiners,  week  . 
Bricklayers,  week 
Masons,  week  . 
Plasterers,  week 
Laborers,  week 


$3.60 

$5.76 

$6.72 

$7.68 

$9  26 

342 

6.24 

7.20 

7  68 

10.35 

4.08 

5.76 

6.4S 

7.20 

8.90 

6.24 

6.72 

7.68 

9. 12 

4.07 

4-32 

4.90 

5-72 

S8.72 

9.28 

7.84 

8.72 

5  40 


A  hundred  years  ago  factory  labor  was  not  a  whit  better  paid 
than  other  branches,  of  which  I  gave  quotations  above.  Taking 
1765,  a  year  of  peace  and  low  corn  prices,  the  weekly  wages  of 
weavers  were  from  $1.70  to  $2.40  and  $2.88  ;  for  iron-workers, 
$2.40  ;  and  Sheffield  paid  $3  25.  At  Newcastle,  colliers  earned 
$3.60,  and  at  Wakefield,  $2.64. 

The  average  weekly  wages  of  women  in  textiles  were        .  •     $1.02 

boys  ..  .<  _  _  72 

girls  .<         ..  _         ^62 


126 


These  rates  have  grown,  to  the  present  time,  as  follows 


1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1S77. 

1883. 

Iron-puckllers 

Mechanics    .... 
Laborers       .... 
Colliers         .... 

$10.80 
672 
4-32 
4.70 

$9.60 
7.20 
4.32 
6.18 

$9.60 
7.20 
4.80 
5.S6 

$10.80 

7-44 
4.80 
6.&f) 

$11.52 

744 
4.80 
C.30 

Cotton-mills,  hours  of  labor  56^  since  1S74,  before  60  hours  : 


1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1877. 

1883. 

Mule-spinners,  male     . 

$9. 12 

$9.12 

$3  64 

$12.72 

S9.60 

Pieccrs,  female     . 

1.56 

156 

2,64 

2.64 

2  64 

Rovers,  fem.ile     . 

1. 81 

2.64 

3-36 

4  08 

432 

Ove  I  lookers,  male 

5.2S 

6.00 

7.20 

8.38 

9.12 

Strijipers  ami  grinders 

2.40 

3.12 

4-32 

504 

5  04 

Miuders,  male 

10.32 

8.00 

9.60 

II. So 

11.04 

The  United  States  show  a  like  progressiveness  in  the  wage-rates 
during  the  jjcriod  of  industrial  development  dating  from  1S40, 
and  of  farm  labor  likewise.  I  shall  leave  out  the  years  of  cur- 
rency inflation,  when  wages  were  higher,  but  had  a  much  smaller 
purchasing  power  than  in  1S60  or  18S3. 

To  show  this  fully,  I  will  give  a  statement  of  farming  rates  of 
labor  compiled  by  Mr.  David  C.  Voorhecs,  of  New  Jersey,  for  the 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  for  the  last  twenty-five  years,  and 
also  the  purchase  power  of  wages  expressed  in  food  supply  : 


Price, 

Bush. 

Rate  of 

wages. 

Year's  \vac;es  purchase. 

Per  year. 

Per  day  in 
harvest. 

Corn. 

Wheat. 

Corn. 

Wheat. 

Bush. 

Bush. 

i8fio    .     . 

$  -75 

$1.40 

$130 

$f.75 

173 

93 

i86r 

.60 

1.25 

100 

1.50 

167 

80 

1862 

.60 

I  50 

120 

1.50 

200 

80 

1880 

•50 

1. 12 

150 

1-75 

300 

134 

1881 

•  47 

1-35 

150 

2.50 

319 

III 

1882 

.60 

1.18 

150 

2.50 

250 

127 

1883 

•50 

1. 12 

150 

2.50 

300 

134 

1884 

.40 

■75 

150 

2.50 

350 

137 

127 

According  to  the  census  of   1850  farm  liands  in   New  Jersey 
received  88  cents  a  day  without  board.    Carpenters'  wages  in  New 
Jersey  were  $1.28  ;  in  the  State  of  New  York,  $1-38  a  d:iy. 
The  yearly  average  earnings  in  manufacturing  industries  for 

1850  were  $247 

i860     "         290 

1880  "  347  ; 
1880,  however,  was  a  year  of  inflation,  being  the  boom  year.  The 
greatest  proportionate  rise  in  wages  is  noticeable  in  1850-60,  when 
the  purchasing  power  of  money  in  the  United  States  was  higher, 
on  the  whole,  than  in  1880.  It  has  been  shown  lately,  through  an 
extended  inquiry  by  Bradstreet's,  that  a  decline  from  the  rates  paid 
in  18S3,  the  highest  wage-period  of  recent  years,  had  taken  place, 
most  pronounced  in  industries  which  have  highest  protective 
tariffs,  such  as  woollens,  iron,  coal,  etc.,  while  such,  which  by  their 
very  essence  cannot  be  influenced  either  way  by  tariff  legislation, 
had  hardly  suffered  any  wage  reduction  from  the  highest  rates  of 
1883.  This  would  show  again  that  the  natural  wage-tendency  of 
our  industrial  situation  is  an  upward  one,  or,  to  say  the  least,  to 
maintain  the  standard  once  obtained,  which,  however,  if  forcibly 
interfered  with,  as  by  tariff  legislation,  must  suffer  decline.  But 
even  this  may  be  considered  a  transitory  condition.  That  the 
general  movement  is  an  upward  one,  may  be  taken  from  an 
account  of  wages  taken  from  the  Standard  Sheeting  Cotton-Mills, 
from  which  we  have  quoted  above,  showing  the  increasing  pro- 
ductiveness of  labor,  decreasing  labor  cost,  and  decreasing  ex- 
pense and  profit  cost.  The  annual  earnings  of  operatives  in  these 
mills,  compared  with  1840,  are  as  follows  : 


Year. 

If  paid  in  sheeting. 
Yards. 

Year. 

Per  hour. 
Cents. 

1840 

1883 
1884-5       • 

1,936 
4.097 
4.154 

$175.00 
287.00 
270.00 

4  49 

8.80 

8.37 

5. REDUCTION    IN    THE    HOURS    OF    LABOR. 

Hand  in  hand  with  increasing  earnings  has  gone  a  corresponding 
reduction  in  the  hours  of  labor.     It  is  a  very  reassuring  fact  that 


128 

the  working  hours  are  shortest  to-day  in  countries  where  wages 
and  productiveness  are  highest.  While  the  week  in  England 
averages  54  to  56  hours,  Germany's  and  France's  week  still 
averages  72  hours,  with  many  industries  at  78  hours.  Switzerland 
has  some  time  ago  adopted  a  normal  working  day  of  11  hours. 
The  report  of  the  Factory  Inspectors  for  1882  and  1883  finds 
much  to  say  on  the  improvement  the  act  has  worked  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  working  people.  As  with  all  innovations  of  this 
kind,  of  course,  many  manufacturers  express  disparaging  opinions, 
while  a  great  many  more  make  favorable  comment  on  the  results 
achieved  thereby.  Massachusetts  has  fixed  60  hours  by  statute 
without  having  experienced  any  incursion  by  competing  neighbor- 
ing States,  Avhich  still  adhere  to  longer  hours.  It  has  been  the 
common  experience,  wherever  tried,  that  shorter  hours  enable 
the  workman  to  put  more  energy  into  his  work. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  century,  in  English  cotton-factories  the 
week  extended  to  74  hours  ;  from  1833  it  was  reduced  to  69  hours. 
From  this  it  went  gradually  to  60  hours,  and  in  1874  to  56I  hours, 
which  may  be  considered  the  normal  working  time  of  the  week  in 
Great  Britain,  although  there  are  trades  where  50  to  52  hours  is 

the  rule. 

In  the  United  States  the  extent  of  the  working  day  in  cotton- 
mills  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Atkinson  as  having  been  13  hours  in  1840  ; 
this  was  by  degrees  reduced  to  11  hours,  and  since  1883  to  10 
hours  in  Massachusetts,  with  other  States  beginning  to  move  in 
the  same  direction,  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  having  adopted  a 
lo-hour  day  within  a  month  of  this  writing.  In  speaking  of  the 
building  trade  and  of  the  normal  working  day  of  eight  hours  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Thorold  Rogers  says  :  "  Employers 
are  very  likely  to  discover  that  the  laborer's  resistance  to  an  ex- 
cessively long  day  was  not  entirely  personal,  and  that  ihe  work 
might  suffer  from  the  workman's  weariness,  and  exhaustion." 
The  excellence  of  the  work,  lasting  through  ages,  when  more  re- 
cent constructions  have  disappeared  entirely,  is  even  a  more 
eloquent  proof  of  the  soundness  of  the  economic  views  of  our 
forefathers,  than  the  voices  which  are  raised  from  the  grave  of 
yellow  parchment. 

Germany,  then  at  the  head  of  Europe  in  commerce  and  manu- 


129 

facturc,  the  economic  ruler  of  the  world,  tlie  banker  and  trader  of 
Europe,  held  to  the  same  rules  during  its  high  tide  of  prosperity. 
AH  of  which  shows  that  reasonable  hours  are  not  at  all  incompati- 
ble with  great  activity  and  productiveness  ;  nay,  that  they  are 
a  necessary  condition  to  their  achievement. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

I. THE   INFLUENCE    OF     FREEDOM     ON     THE   CONDITIONS   OF    THE 

WORKING  CLASSES. 

Aji  Historic  Parallel. 

Political  economy  is  called  the  dismal  science.  Wrongly  so. 
Under  theoretical  and  dogmatic  treatment  it  may  deserve  this  off- 
hand dismissal.  But  when  placed  in  a  truer  position,  that  of  an 
historian  of  the  development  of  the  social  organism,  then  the  case 
is  different.  When  by  analytical  inquiry  into  the  methods  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution  it  can  be  shown  that  the  result  of  the 
undisturbed  play  of  social  forces  has  been  the  one  indicated  in  the 
head-lines  of  the  five  subdivisions  of  the  preceding  chapter,  then 
hopefulness  must  take  the  place  of  pessimistic  despondency.  A 
science  which  can  lay  bare,  by  inductive  investigation,  the  inner 
workings  of  correlative  forces  in  the  body  politic,  and  can  prove 
that  the  ascendancy  of  democracy  has  given  to  the  poor  more  and 
better  food,  more  and  better  clothing,  and  better  housing,  all 
coupled  with  lessening  toil  and  hardship,  then  such  a  science 
ceases  to  be  a  dismal  one,  and  assumes  the  proud  position  of  a 
comforter  and  teacher  of  mankind. 

The  powerful  influence  of  these  forces  upon  production  wrought 
by  a  high  standard  of  living  of  the  working  classes  can  best  be 
shown  by  an  historic  comparison.  I  have  often  alluded  to  the 
small  productiveness  of  Germany.  I  have  shown  the  small  earn- 
ings and  poor  living  of  most  of  its  people.  This  has  not  always 
been  so.  A  glance  at  Germany  during  the  great  Quinto  Cento, 
the  last  century  of  the  inuch-abuscd  and  misunderstood  Middle 
Ages,  gives  us  a  parallel,  which  brings  out  our  points  in  strong  re- 
lief and  contrast.  Economically,  commercially,  and  financially, 
Germany  occupied  then  the  position  which  England  holds  to-day. 
Without  a  central  government  which  deserves  the  name,  for  over 
two  centuries  the   German  towns  had  to  rely  on  their  own  re- 

130 


sources,  and  on  the  manly,  sturdy  spirit  of  their  citizens  to  work 
out  their  own  salvation.  Behold  what  great  work  they  organized 
and  shaped,  unaided  by  any  power  from  without,  but  much  iiin- 
dered,  rather.  Between  the  jealousies,  the  aspirations,  and  petty 
wars  of  the  robber-barons  and  rising  dynastic  houses,  the  towns- 
men had  to  be  prepared  continually  for  bloody  work.  They  did 
this  work,  when  necessary,  very  efTectively.  They  were  a  valiant, 
manly  race.  They  had  to  shape  their  own  destinies.  When  hard 
pressed,  no  one  came  to  their  rescue.  Within  their  walls  ihey  had 
to  organize  a  state  of  their  own.  One  by  one  they  obtained  their 
privileges  and  rights  from  the  crown  until  they  had  gained  full 
freedom,  the  right  of  self-government  and  taxation.  The  ])ower 
of  the  towns  soon  overawed  princes  and  empires.  The  Hansa  dic- 
tated laws  to  all  the  Northern  kingdoms.  They  made  and  unmade 
kings.  In  the  North,  from  Brugge,  Bremen,  Lubeck,  Hamburg, 
they  carried  the  commerce  of  the  world  to  Novgorod,  to  London, 
and  to  Bergen  in  Norway.  The  trade  of  England  centred  in  their 
hands.  With  the  principal  Hansa-house  in  London,  the  Stahlhof, 
which  represented  their  interests  in  a  larger  sense,  they  had  their 
trading-houses  and  guilds  in  Lynn,  Boston,  York,  Bristol,  Hull, 
Ypswich,  Yarmouth,   Norwich,  etc. 

These  warrior  merchants  had  to  keep  the  waterways  free  from 
pirates  and  the  landways  from  the  noble  passions  of  knightly 
brigands.  In  the  South,  Augsburg,  Nuremberg,  Ulm,  Strasburg, 
Berne,  Vienna,  etc.,  transacted  the  business  of  exchanging  the 
products  of  Italy  and  the  Orient  with  those  of  Germany  and  the 
North.  The  treasures  which  poured  into  German  cities  are 
recorded  in  indelible  characters  to  the  present  day  in  the  great 
cathedrals,  city  halls,  guild-  and  council-houses,  and  in  the  pal- 
aces of  some  of  their  private  citizens.  The  wealth  of  the  Welsers, 
the  Fuggers,  the  Hochstetters,  etc.,  etc.,  has  disappeared  ;  the  great 
pulsation  of  vigorous  life  has  fagged  away  in  the  centuries  of 
depression  and  oppression  which  followed  in  the  wake  of  the 
Reformation  and  counter-reformation  and  their  bloody  wars. 

But  the  great  epoch  has  left  us  its  object-lesson,  the  work  of  its 
free  citizens,  in  the  monuments  of  its  architecture,  sculpture, 
painting,  wood-carvings,  armors,  metal-works,  all  showing  the 
great  skill  and  greatness  of  conception  of  workers,  masters,  and 


132 

thinkers.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dive  into  the  chronicles  of  that 
time  for  reference,  when  we  have  such  witnesses  before  our  eyes. 
The  impression  which  German  life  made  upon  foreign  travellers, 
however,  is  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection.  Pierre  de  Froissard, 
writing  in  1497,  says  : 

"  We  are  filled  with  admiration  when  we  see  how  enterprising 
and  courageous  German  merchants  are,  how  they  understand  to 
increase  their  wealth.  The  prosperity  of  the  cities,  the  beauty  and 
grandeur  of  its  public  and  private  buildings,  and  the  treasures  in 
the  interior  of  their  houses  are  telling  witnesses  of  this  wealth.  It 
is  a  great  pleasure  to  tarry  in  these  cities  and  to  take  part  in  the 
public  amusements  and  festivities  of  the  citizens." 

^neo  Sylvio  Piccolomini,  later  Pope  Pio  II.,  writes  in  1458  : 
"We  say  it  frankly,  Germany  was  never  richer,  never  more  bril- 
liant than  to-day.  The  German  nation  is  in  advance  of  all  others 
in  greatness  and  power,  and  one  may  truly  say  that  there  is  no 
people  to  whom  God  has  vouchsafed  as  much  favor  as  to  the 
German  people.  Everywhere  in  Germany  we  see  cultivated 
grounds,  cornfields,  vineyards,  flower-gardens,  and  orchards,  in 
town  and  country,  everywhere  fine  buildings,  pleasant  villas, 
castles  upon  the  hills,  and  walled  cities.  .  .  .  To  speak  the 
truth,  no  country  in  Europe  has  better  and  brighter-looking  cities 
than  Germany.  Their  exterior  is  fresh  and  new  ;  it  seems,  though, 
as  if  they  had  been  completed  but  yesterday.  Nowhere  else  does 
one  find  as  much  liberty  as  in  German  cities.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  so-called  free  states  of  Italy  are,  in  reality,  slaves,  in  Venice 
as  well  as  in  Florence  or  Siena.  The  citizens,  with  the  exception 
of  the  few  who  constitute  the  government,  are  treated  as  slaves  ; 
they  can  neither  use  their  money  as  they  seem  fit  nor  say  what 
they  please,  and  are  subject  to  the  severest  exactions.  With  the 
Germans,  on  the  contrary,  every  thing  is  bright  and  happy  ;  no  one 
is  threatened  in  his  possessions,  every  one  is  safe  in  his  inheritance, 
and  government  injures  no  one  except  him  who  injures  others." 

The  German  plebeian  townsman  had  conquered  the  obstinate 
resistance  of  the  patrician.  The  craft  guilds  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  city  government.  Every  thing  partaining  to  the  craft 
was  regulated  by  the  guild  in  the  guild-hall.  The  workmen  were 
equally  free  and    powerfully  organized    in  trades-unions,    which 


^33 

frequently  extended  tlieir  organizations  over  t])e  whole  of  Ger- 
many. They  carefully  guarded  the  honor  and  dignity  of  their 
craft,  and  iheir  social  position  was  a  high  one  and  jealously  guarded 
by  them.  In  illustration,  the  journeymen  bakers  of  Colmar  :  tlicy 
struck  work  in  1495,  and  kejit  up  the  contest  for  ten  years,  until  a 
decision  was  rendered  by  an  arbitrator  in  their  favor,  and  they 
were  jiut  back  to  their  iirivileged  rights,  to  march  in  an  advance 
position  in  the  Cor[)US  Christi  procession. 

Many  cases   of  a  like   nature   are    recorded.     We   sliould   call 
them  to-day  sentimental   grievances.     But  tlie  workingmen's  in- 
sistance  on  rights  cf  this  nature  shows  that  they  considered  them- 
selves, and  were  considered  by  common  consent,  equals  in  every 
sense  of  the  word,  and  is  evidence  of  a  satisfactory  material  and 
pecuniary    j^osilion.     Sentimental   grievances   are   not    raised    by 
working   people   when   their  condition   in    life  is  of  a  low  type. 
Most  disjjutes,  however,  were  settled  to   the  satisfaction  of   both 
parties  by  the  guild  or  the  town-council.     Wages  were  high,  con- 
sidering the  great  purchasing  power  of  money,  the  low  ])rices  of 
commodities,  and  the  fulness  of  board,  lodging,  washing,  etc.,  all 
of  which  were  provided  in  the  master's  house,  and  all  regulated  to 
the  minutest  details  by  agreement  of  the  guild  on  the  one  side  and 
the  trade-union  on  the  other  side.     The  records  of  the  day  furnish 
evidence  of  this,  which  in  profuseness  leave  nothing  to  desire. 
Mutuality,  the  leading  principle  of  feudalism,  exercised  its  power 
in  the  relations  of  masters  and  workmen,  and  showed  the  satis- 
factory conditions  of  the  latter  in  the  w^ork  which  they  performed, 
and  in  the  great  demand  in  which  German  manufactures  and  Ger- 
man workmen  stood  in  foreign  countries.     One  Felix  Fabri,  from 
Ulm,  wrote   in    14S4  :    "  If   any  one   desires   good   work  done   in 
metal,  stone,  or  wood,  he  intrusts   it  to   a  German.     I  have  seen 
German   goldsmiths,   jewellers,    masons,   and   carriage-makers  do 
wonderful  things  among  the  Saracenes  ;  they  excelled  Greeks  and 
Italians  in  skill.     The   Sultan   of   Egypt  availed   himself  of   the 
advice,  the  skill,  and  the  work  of  a  German  in  the  erection  of  the 
wall  around  the  harbor  of  Alexandria,  which  is  the  admiration  of 
the  whole  East." 

Germany's  exports  consisted  largely  of  German  linens,  woollen 
cloths,  metal-work  of  all  kinds  in  gold,  silver,  bronze,  copper,  iron, 


134 

and  steel,  wood-work,  etc.,  etc.  Over  300,000  pieces  of  linen  were 
bleached  alone  upon  the  bleacheries  of  Ulm,  in  Suabia,  each  year. 
Ulni  has  especial  natural  facilities  for  bleaching,  which  gave  it 
great  importance  in  the  linen  industry  up  to  the  present  time. 
But  its  importance  as  a  linen-manufacturing  town  can  be  measured 
from  its  own  production  of  over  200,000  pieces  annually  at  the 
period  mentioned.  The  manufacture  of  woollen  cloth  was  a  great 
industry  in  Southern  Germany  and  in  the  Rhenish  provinces  of 
the  empire.  One  of  the  writers  of  the  time,  J.  Wimpheling,  in  De 
Arte  Impressotia,  says  : 

"  In  many  Westphalian  towns  loom  touches  loom,  and  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  estimate  how  many  hundred  thousand  pieces  the  guilds 
produce  month  after  month.  The  weavers  are  everywhere  as 
industrious  as  they  are  skilled,  and  stand  in  high  esteem  with 
their  fellow-townsmen." 

Division  of  labor  was  practised  to  a  large  degree  ;  especially  so 
in  the  finer  arts  and  crafts  ;  in  metals  prominently  so.  Special 
parts  of  an  armor  were  frequently  made  by  a  special  group  of 
workmen,  which  explains  the  skill  and  perfection  which  the  pieces 
display  that  are  still  in  existence. 

The  woollen  industry  was  likewise  divided  into  many  branches. 
Those  who  made  woollens  of  fine  Flemish  and  Italian  fleeces  were 
a  different  guild  from  those  who  worked  the  coarser  home-bred 
wools.  There  were,  besides  the  weavers,  the  wool-combers,  the 
cloth-shearers,  the  fullers,  the  frame-tender?,  the  finishers,  etc.,  all 
organized  in  separate  crafts  and  trades.  This  minute  subdivision 
alone  explains  the  great  efficiency  and  productiveness  of  labor  of 
that  great  period.  Even  the  dyeing  craft  was  subdivided  into 
black  dyers,  fine  dyers,  madder  dyers,  etc. 

The  standard  of  living  of  the  workingmen  is  observable  from 
the  many  regulations  handed  down  to  us  as  to  the  food  they  were 
entitled  to.  They  seem  to  have  been  very  lavish  in  their  outlay 
for  clothing,  ornaments  in  gold  and  silver,  etc.,  etc.,  which  the 
town-councils  often  felt  themselves  called  upon  to  repress,  vainly 
though,  by  occasional  ordinances  and  proclamations.  It  appears 
therefrom  that  silk  and  velvet  were  not  uncommon  articles  of 
dress  among  them.  The  rich  gifts  which  we  find  recorded  as  their 
offering  to  churches  and  other  pious  foundations  speak  equally 


135 

well  for  their  favorable  financial  conditions.  Ealing  and  drinking 
was  granted  in  profuse  quantities.  The  many  disputes  over  set- 
tlements of  the  mooted  questions  as  to  quantities,  the  various 
dishes  and  kinds  of  food  that  were  to  constitute  the  meals,  give  a 
full  account  of  the  well-living  of  the  working  classes.  Meat  was 
given  twice  a  day.  The  workmen  frequently  obtained  two  kinds 
of  meat  for  dinner,  with  at  least  half  a  quart  of  wine.  Many 
times  we  find  wine  twice  a  day  as  their  portion.  One  regulation 
calls  "that  the  meat  shall  reach  two  fingers'  width  over  both  ends 
of  the  plate."  Wine,  not  beer,  was  the  common  beverage,  and  its 
great  consumption  by  all  classes  is  recorded  so  frequently  by  all 
writers  of  the  time,  that  this  alone  might  be  considered  a  proof  of 
general  well-being.  More  than  all,  however,  the  great  consump- 
tion of  meat  stands  out  in  solid  form  as  an  indicator  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  working  classes.  It  is  calculated  that  in  Frankfort- 
on-Oder  the  consumption  of  meat  was  twelve  times  as  large  as  in 
1802. 

We  could  give  like  accounts  of  the  favorable  condition  in  which 
the  peasantry  and  the  agricultural  population  at  large  was  placed. 
We  have  numberless  records  of  regulations  governing  the  relations 
of  lords  and  tenants,  masters  and  servants.  The  latter's  food  and 
pay  were  as  fully  and  carefully  attended  to  as  we  found  to  be  the 
case  in  reference  to  town  population.  Serfdom  had  almost  entirely 
disappeared,  and  the  sharp  edges  of  feudalism  had  been  smoothed 
and  rounded.  All  in  all,  we  find  a  full  analogy  of  the  facts 
brought  out  by  Thorold  Rogers  regarding  England.  The  state 
of  the  working  classes,  both  agricultural  and  industrial,  was  as 
satisfactory  in  Germany  as  Rogers  found  it  in  England  in  his 
survey  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  In  a  recent 
publication  ("  Geldwerth  und  Arbeitslohn  im  Mittelalter,"  by 
Stephan  Beissel,  Freiburg,  1S85)  I  find  a  history  of  prices,  wages, 
and  relations  existing  between  master  and  workmen,  from  bills  and 
records  relating  to  the  building  of  St.  Victor  at  Xanten,  which 
bring  very  satisfactory  support  to  Professor  Rogers'  conclusions, 
that  low  prices  and  high  earnings  of  the  working  classes  go  hand 
in  hand.  But  low  prices,  in  this  connection,  is  only  another  term 
for  a  high  rate  of  productiveness,  which  necessarily  must  end  in 
great  consumption,  or  what  is  the  same,  high  earnings. 


136 

German  students  of  the  economic  history  of  that  age  agree  that 
at  our  time  the  middle  classes  do  not  keep  so  good  a  table  as  was 
the  custom  among  the  working  people  then. 

Compare  this  with  the  present  diet  of  the  German  working 
classes,  when  meat  is  an  almost  unknown  quantity  upon  their 
tables,  except  an  apology  of  it  on  Sundays  and  holy  days;  when 
potatoes,  chicory  coffee,  and  rye  bread  form  the  almost  universal 
and  main  articles  of  food  ;  then  we  may  well  pause  and  ask  our- 
selves whether  declining  productiveness  does  not  stand  in  causal 
relation  with  a  reduced  standard  of  living. 

When  we  unfold  these  facts,  then  we  find  a  full  retort  to  the 
exclamation  of  Prince  Bismarck,  that  Germany  is  three  hundred 
years  behind  and  cannot  be  compared  to  England  or  America. 
The  German  people  are  of  the  same  stock  now  as  then.  They  are 
of  the  same  stock  that  made  England's  and  America's  greatness. 
But  the  liberty  of  action,  the  freedom  of  thought,  which  formed 
Germany's  greatness  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  was 
suppressed  by  the  ascendancy  of  absolutism  and  the  reversal  of 
the  old  popular  law  (Volksvecht)  ;  while  England,  not  weak- 
ened by  disastrous  wars,  like  the  great  peasants'  war  and  the  thirty 
years'  war,  could  save  itself  from  the  sad  fate  which  overtook 
Germany's  popular  rights. 

2. — ON    GUILDS    AND    WORKINGMEN's    ASSOCIATIONS. 

Not  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  elapsed  since  the  Reformation, 
when  the  signs  of  barbarization  were  visible  all  over  Germany. 
The  decline  and  decay  of  art,  manufactures,  and  commerce,  of 
the  comfort  and  well-being  of  townsmen  and  peasants,  followed  in 
the  wake  of  the  social,  religious,  and  political  disturbances  which 
agitated  Germany  all  through  the  sixteenth  century.  The  thirty 
years'  war  sealed  Germany's  doom.  Territorially  and  economi- 
cally, it  left  it  a  waste.  Politically,  it  made  it  a  nonentity.  It 
made  an  independent  sovereign  of  every  little  baron,  count,  or 
duke.  Every  one  of  these  opera-bouffe  potentates  was  a  miniature 
copy  of  the  great  Louis  or  his  successors.  They  imitated  all  the 
vices  of  the  French  court  without  possessing  the  refinement  which 
could  make  them  otherwise  than  loathsome. 

The  worst,  however,  was  the  fearful  oppression  which  this  half 


137 

thousand  of  petty  despots  heaped  upon  their  subjects  in  tlie  way 
of  taxation  and  burdens.  Every  one  of  them  had  his  custom- 
house and  his  army,  if  only  of  two  privates,  a  captain,  and  a 
general.  A  retinue  of  court  officials  was  a  matter  of  course  with 
each  of  these  mignonette  rulers.  Always  ready  to  make  a  bargain 
with  foreign  powers,  and  being  more  bent  on  selling  their  male 
subjects,  as  so  many  heads  of  cattle,  for  foreign  battle-fields  and 
keeping  their  harems  well  stocked,  they  certainly  had  no  great 
solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  their  subjects,  whom  the  Westphalian 
treaty  had  delivered  into  their  hands.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  cannot  surprise  that  it  took  fully  two  centuries  till  Germany 
had  recovered  from  the  terrible  wounds  the  thirty  years'  war  had 
inflicted.  Under  the  rule  of  absolutism  and  restraint  of  all  kinds, 
free  citizenship  could  not  exist.  Despotism  has  never  developed 
industrial  and  commercial  greatness,  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  de- 
stroyed this  as  well  as  the  happiness  and  well-being  of  the  people, 
who  had  enjoyed  these  blessings  under  more  favored  circum- 
stances. Spain,  Italy,  Germany,  and  France  under  the  old  regime 
(not  to  mention  the  unspeakable  Turk)  give  lasting  examples. 

It  is,  therefore,  impossible  to  judge  the  guilds  and  associations 
of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  by  those  of  the  later  centuries. 
The  former  were  the  natural  development  of  a  state  of  society  in 
which  the  individual  had  to  seek  shelter  somewhere  from  the 
aggressive  power  of  the  mail-clad  horsemen.  The  people  had 
either  to  be  the  baron's  men  or  they  had  to  protect  themselves  by 
their  own  means  against  the  baron.  The  walled  bourg  or  town 
offered  this  shelter,  of  which  the  country-people  availed  them- 
selves with  alacrity.  They  were  welcome  guests  at  a  time  when 
strong  arms  were  the  best  friends  a  man  could  have.  This 
gradual  strengthening  of  city  and  town  weakened  the  powers  of 
the  lords,  and  at  the  same  time  offered  markets,  always  near,  for 
the  produce  of  the  soil.  In  this  wise  a  gradual  pacification, 
civilization,  and  general  raising  of  the  conditions  of  all  classes 
had  taken  place,  which  happy  development  culminated  in  about 
the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  guilds  were  the  re- 
sult of  a  strong  impulse  for  self-preservation,  as  well  as  a  necessary 
condition  for  the  achievement  of  great  ends  in  town  politics  as 
well  as  in  trade,  manufacture,  and  commerce.     The  results  which 


138 

they  brought  about  were  in  themselves  the  strongest  proofs  of  the 
necessity  of  their  existence.  The  workmen  would  have  been 
powerless  in  the  hands  of  tlieir  masters,  had  they  not  followed 
their  example.  The  result  also  shows  that  their  labor-associations 
■were  well-timed,  as  the  two  centuries  of  mastership  in  manufac- 
ture and  commerce  amply  testify.  The  admission  into  the  guilds 
was  easy.  Workmen  were  employed,  from  wherever  they  came. 
The  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  find  workmen,  masons  and 
master-masons,  stone-cutters,  etc.,  from  all  countries  engaged  in 
the  building  of  St.  Victor  at  Xanten.  So  was  money  circulating 
freely  whether  coined  in  Germany  or  elsewhere.  The  end  of  the 
latter  century,  however,  finds  already  every  thing  narrowed  down 
to  "home  production."  All  of  which  shows  the  great  freedom 
that  had  gradually  worked  through  the  hard  crust  of  feudalism  into 
the  open  air,  promising  greatness  and  happiness  to  the  people. 
It  was  not  to  be,  and  it  was  left  to  our  own  time  to  take  up  the 
great  work  of  restoration. 

The  guilds,  during  the  succeeding  centuries,  were  gradually  de- 
caying into  petrified  monopolies.  Their  whole  aim  was  to  exclude 
new-comers  from  sharing  in  the  benefits  and  advantages  of  their 
position,  to  prevent  competition  by  keeping  down  the  number  of 
masters,  and  to  prevent  workingmen  from  asserting  their  rights  by 
all  sorts  of  legal  devices,  which  the  ruling  powers  were  only  too 
ready  to  supply. 

It  cannot  surprise,  therefore,  that  the  manufacturing  industries 
had  declined.  Neither  can  it  surprise,  that  Colbert  could  not 
think  of  better  means  of  raising  them  again  to  a  higher  standard, 
than  state-supservision,  the  leading  remedy  for  all  evils  in  a  politi- 
cal status,  expressed  in  the  device:  "  1' ^tat  c' est  moi."  The 
many  ordinances  and  laws  promulgated  under  his  administration, 
the  directions  given  to  his  factory  inspectors,  and  their  reports 
show  the  decline  of  the  various  industries,  as  well  as  the  degree 
of  corruption  and  deceiving  practices  which  had  taken  hold  of 
the  management  and  curtailed  the  usefulness  of  the  guilds. 

The  sequel  proved  that  nothing  short  of  a  total  abolition  of  all 
guilds  and  corporations  and  the  grant  of  absolute  freedom  to 
trade,  manufacture,  and  commerce  could  restore  health  and 
growth   to  industry  and  commerce. 


139 

This  opinion  had  gained  ground  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Long  before  the  advent  of  Adam  Smith's 
"  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Causes  of  the  Wealth  of  Nations," 
the  Economists  prepared  the  jniblic  mind.  They  liad  the 
opportunity  of  studying  from  life.  They  saw  on  the  one  hand 
the  bad  results  of  mean,  gluttonous  monopoly  controlling  produc- 
tion, and  on  the  other  hand,  the  equally  bad  results  of  gov- 
ernment's constant  interference,  regulation,  and  prescription. 
Indeed  both  tended  to  the  same  end,  that  of  dwarfing  enter- 
prise and  enslaving  intellect. 

That  Target  could  dare  to  promulgate  his  famous  and  really 
great  conceptions  in  the  form  of  laws,  shows  that  the  public  mind 
had  been  well  saturated  with  principles  of  economic  truth. 
Though  not  all  his  reform  measures  were  carried  through,  though 
many  were  withdrawn  shortly  after  their  publication,  yet  they 
were  to  an  extent  carried  into  practice.  Of  course,  he  met  with 
fierce  opposition  from  all  sides.  Not  his  great  measures,  how- 
ever, but  tlie  jealousy  of  his  ministerial  rivals  at  court,  was  the 
cause  of  his  fall  and  of  the  stinted  execution  of  his  measures.  No 
one,  however,  gave  a  more  earnest  and  honest  support  to  Turgot 
than  Louis  XVI. — the  best  inclined  and  most  unfortunate  of  all 
the  kings  of  the  house  of  Bourbon. 

Turgot  says  :  "  I  know  no  other  means  of  imparting  life  to 
an  industry  than  to  give  it  the  greatest  amount  of  freedom  and 
the  removal  of  all  taxes  which  the  misunderstood  interest  of  the 
fiscal  administration  has  heaped  upon  every  kind  of  merchan- 
dise." This  is  the  spirit  which  pervades  his  reform  plans. 
The  freeing  of  the  corn  trade,  etc.,  etc.,  by  the  laws  of  1774  to 
1776,  from  all  restraints  and  taxes,  is  only  an  indication  of  the 
drift  of  his  measures. 

Guilds,  monopolies,  and  police-regulations  of  industries  were 
removed  by  the  great  edict  of  February,  1776,  the  year  in  which 
Adam  Smith's  great  work  made  its  appearance.  Blanqui  calls 
this  law  the  charter  of  freedom  of  the  working  classes.  In  a 
memorial  to  the  king,  Turgot  explains  his  views  on  the  subject. 
He  says  :  That  the  guilds  prevent  the  development  of  the  indus- 
trial arts,  that  they  oppress  the  lower  classes,  that  their  adminis- 
tration is  a  very  defective  one,  and   that   they  increase  the  price 


140 


of  commodities.  He  finally  declares  the  time  to  be  eminently 
favorable  for  this  measure,  on  account  of  the  revolutionary  war 
just  breaking  out  in  the  British  colonies  of  North  America.  This 
war,  he  says,  will  stop  the  English  factories  and  throw,  if  we  es- 
tablish a  free  industrial  system,  all  of  their  workmen  and  trade 
into  our  hands. 

His  solicitude  for  the  poorer  classes  speaks  from  this  sentence 
of  the  law  :  "  We  are  in  duty  bound  to  give  to  all  our  subjects 
the  fullest  use  of  all  their  rights.  Before  all  we  owe  this  guaranty 
to  that  class  of  men  who  have  no  other  property  than  that  of  their 
labor  and  their  industry.  To  them  the  use  of  this  right  to  its 
fullest  extent  becomes  the  more  important,  as  it  is  the  only  source 
from  which  they  can  derive  their  maintenance." 

That  his  laws  and  regulations  were  partially  removed  in  the 
succeeding  years,  and  not  even  fully  adopted  by  the  Revolution, 
that  guilds  and  repressive  acts  were  resorted  to  again,  is  not  the 
fault  of  Turgot.  It  only  shows  the  difficult,  labored,  and  heavy 
step  in  which  mankind  moves,  even  when  genius  has  raised  the 
beacon  high,  to  illuminate  the  way.  It  does  not  even  show  that 
mankind  moves  slowly  in  the  path  of  liberty  and  progress,  but 
that  monopoly  and  privilege  die  hard.  The  death-struggle  still 
goes  on.  The  weapons  which  freedom  wields  are,  however,  too 
destructive  for  old,  decrepit,  and  time-worn  institutions.  The  age 
of  steam  and  electricity  cannot  possibly  be  burdened  much  longer 
with  the  rotten  machinery  of  past  centuries. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SOME    ECONOMIC    TRUTHS   DISPROVEN    BY    FACTS. 

The  teachings  of  Mallhus,  Ricardo,  and  their  followers  were 
based  on  inverted  views.  Malthus'  conception  was  that  of  an 
insular  pedagogue,  who  could  not  conceive  the  continuity  of 
supply  to  be  derivable  from  soils  outside  the  narrow  limits  of  a 
country,  even  if  the  soil  of  the  country  should  not  yield  enough 
to  su])ply  the  food  for  an  increasing  population.  Indeed,  economic 
writers  indulge  too  frequently  in  the  building  up  of  an  imaginary 
social  creation.  They  show  how  society  develops  from  an  agri- 
cultural to  a  manufacturing  community,  how  good  soils  are 
taken  up  fust  by  husbandmen,  that  the  poorer  soils  are  taken  up 
successively,  and  that  rents  represent  only  the  excess,  for  a  like 
expenditure,  of  the  product  of  this  land,  over  the  product  of  the 
worst  land  cultivated  in  the  same  country.  This  theory,  too,  is  a 
necessary  outcome  of  the  insular  view,  of  an  isolated  existence, 
protected  and  fortified  by  corn-laws,  of  a  view  based  on  the  immu- 
tability of  vested  rights  and  the  unchangeable  character  of  the 
social  organism,  the  unchangeability  of  an  organism  which,  if 
such  a  term  is  applicable,  is  the  creation  of  change.  The  thought 
of  every  generation  exercises  its  remodelling  or  destroying  influ- 
ence on  the  social  organism  as  handed  down  from  a  preceding 
generation.  It  would  be  useless  to  lose  words  on  this  subject. 
Others  have  ventilated  it  sufficiently.  I  have,  in  previous  chapters, 
shown  the  utter  inadmissibility  of  such  discouraging  teachings. 
With  the  battering  down  of  all  barriers  put  in  the  way  of  the  free 
admission  of  corn,  the  cheapest  fields  of  supply  have  come  to  the 
rescue  of  starving  millions.  The  whole  situation  is  reversed,  since 
the  price  of  land  in  Australia  and  America  determines  the  land 
tenure  in  England.  When  American  and  Australian  wheat  can  be 
landed  in  Liveri)ool  at  less  than  one  dollar  a  bushel,  paying  the 
railroads  and  steamships,  and  the  farmer  on  his  free  homestead,  a 

141 


142 

profit,  then  it  is  useless  to  argue,  whether  rents  are  paid  as  the 
equivalent  of  the  excess  of  earnings  from  good  lands  over  those 
from  poor  lands,  or  whether  they  are  paid  on  lands  because  they 
are  nearer  the  market.  The  rent-collector  will  find  his  occupation 
gone  when  outside  influences  of  the  kind  mentioned,  determine 
the  price  of  corn.  Rent  cannot  be  paid  for  land  when  free  land 
comes  in  free  competition  with  rent  land.  America,  helping  the 
English  farmer  and  agricultural  laborer  to  their  ultimate  libera- 
tion, however,  has  derived  benefits  from  the  free  admission  of  her 
produce  into  England,  which  hitherto  have  hardly  been  recognized 
to  their  full  extent.     The  value  of  an  outside   market  for  their 

• 

surplus  is  hardly  sufficiently  appreciated  by  our  agriculturists. 
Free  trade  in  corn  has  given  cheap  bread  to  England's  working 
people,  and  has  contributed  in  making  Great  Britain  the  world's 
factory,  but  has  besides  raised  the  American  farmer  in  comfort 
and  wealth.  The  British  price  of  corn  was  reduced  and  the 
American  price  was  raised  by  the  opening  of  the  grain  trade  in 
England.  Not  so  much  as  the  shipping  price  is  concerned,  but  so 
far  as  the  money  price  is  concerned  which  is  paid  on  the  farm. 
Forty  years  ago  nearly  the  full  value  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  would 
have  been  exhausted  by  freight  charges  from  Ohio  to  the  sea-shore. 
The  railroad  by  opening  the  country  to  outside  markets  has 
made  it  possible  to  take  the  farmer's  surplus  to  the  shipping  point 
at  a  minimum  of  expense.  After  paying  the  carrying  expense, 
even  under  the  influence  of  low  export  prices,  he  has  still  more 
left  as  his  share  than  at  the  time  when  but  few  railroads  existed. 
The  railroads  and  steamships  have  thus  become  levellers  of 
prices,  supplying  cheap  bread  to  the  toilers  of  America  and 
Europe,  and  still  proving  to  the  farmer  a  great  boon.  The  rail- 
road system  of  this  country,  and  the  great  extension  of  steam 
navigation,  would,  however,  never  have  found  the  great  growth 
had  it  not  been  for  the  abolition  of  the  corn-laws  of  Great  Britain. 
Without  the  demand  of  foreign  markets  for  our  products,  no  one 
would  have  thought  for  a  moment  of  building  lines  after  lines  of 
roads  and  steamships.  By  having  an  open  market  for  the  surplus, 
the  grower  of  wheat,  of  corn,  of  pork,  of  agriculture  products  of 
all  kinds,  had  gained  a  decided  advantage  over  the  manufacturer. 
The  farmer,  by  finding  a  foreign  market  for  his  surplus,  obtains 


143 

the  full  price  for  his  salable  products,  less  transportation  expense, 
to  the  full  extent  of  the  foreign  import  price.  The  latter,  by 
havin<;  all  sorts  of  duties,  or  price  increase,  on  his  materials  to 
bear,  by  means  of  custom-duties  for  protection,  is  debarred  from 
obtaining  relief  through  foreign  commerce.  Having  to  unload 
every  thing  on  limited  home  markets,  he  has  in  times  of  depression 
to  suffer  all  the  ills  which  such  an  economic  system  entails  on 
him. 

No  better  demonstration  could  be  found  of  the  great  utility  of 
open  markets  to  the  j^roducer,  than  in  a  comparison  of  the  relative 
positions  of  the  agriculturists  and  the  manufacturers  in  jirotected 
fields  of  industry,  when  burdened  by  ovcr-sup])ly  and  closed 
markets. 

OTHER    FALLACIES    IN    SOCIOLOGY. 

We  have,  in  this  inquiry  into  fallacies  of  political  economy,  to 
meet  one  of  not  less  importance  than  those  alluded  to  above. 

Density  of  popttlation  has  been  considered  as  going  hand  in 
hand  with  increasing  poverty.  As  a  matter  of  course,  it  is  inti- 
mately connected  witli  the  above  doctrines.  The  whole  economic 
philosophy  of  the  time,  slowly  fading  away,  has  been  based 
thereon.  But  there  is  hardly  a  branch  of  the  subject  more 
clearly  disproven  by  facts  than  this.  Indeed,  the  development  of 
our  modern  states  prove  the  contrary.  Not  to  speak  of  the  older 
States  of  the  United  States,  whose  most  densely  populated  sec- 
tions are  not  yet  approaching  to  any  European  conditions,  but 
Holland,  Belgium,  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  all  have  in- 
creased in  population  more  in  this  century  than  the  most  sanguine 
estimates  could  have  anticipated.  Wealth,  however,  has  vastly 
overreached  the  rapid  growth  of  population,  which  has  taken 
place  within  the  last  hundred  years.  The  countries  most  densely 
populated  count  among  the  richest,  while  the  thinly  populated 
countries,  countries  possessing  the  richer  soil  and  blessed  by 
nature  to  a  far  greater  degree,  are  the  poorest. 

A  statement  of  the  estimated  wealth  of  the  principal  countries  of 
Europe  shows  this  conclusively  when  placed  side  by  side  with 
population.  I  omit  the  value  of  forests  and  lands,  as  their  increase 
in  value  is  more  due  to  other  influences  than  wealth-creating  ac- 
tivity. 


144 


Holland  .  .  . 
United  Kingdom 
France  . 
Germany . 
Beltjiiun  . 
Spain  .  . 
Austria  . 
Italy  .  . 
European  Russia   . 


AVealth,  exclusive  of 
Lands  and  Forests. 


$3,800,000,000 

32,000,000,000 

25,000,000,000 

20,000,000,000 

2,500,000,000 

4,500,000,000 

10,000,000,000 

7,000,000,000 

12,000,000,000 


Population. 


4,000,000 
35,000,000 
37,000,000 
45,000,000 

5,500,000 
16,000,000 
38,000,000 
29,000,000 
75,000,000 


No.  in- 
Rate  per  I'abilanis 

Capita.      Pfrsq- 
kilo- 
metre. 


$950 

9>5 
676 

445 
445 
2S0 
263 
241 
160 


iiS 

log 

69 

79 
1S5 

33 
59 

95 
13.7 


So  far  as  fertility  of  soil  is  concerned,  of  tliat  part  of  Russia 
which  stretches  from  a  line  running  from  Warsaw  and  Moscow  to 
the  Ural  Mountains  southward,  no  other  country  could  show  bet- 
ter means  of  creating  wealth.  Not  considering  at  all  the  northern 
part  of  Russia,  bat  counting  all  her  population  into  the  southern 
half,  her  density  would  not  be  more  than  27  against  109  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  118  of  Holland,  and  185  of  Belgium.  There 
would  be  room  for  300  millions  in  the  southern  half  of  Russia  to 
give  the  population  the  density  of  Holland,  and  for  a  sixfold  in- 
crease of  wealth  to  bring  it  up  to  the  per-capita  rate  of  Holland. 

If  any  thing  were  to  be  proven  by  such  facts  in  the  nature  of  a 
relationship  of  wealth  and  population,  the  exact  opposite  could  be 
deduced  from  these  figures.  I  do  not,  however  wish  to  prove 
any  thing  of  the  kind,  or  set  up  a  theory  of  my  own.  On  the 
contrary,  I  wish  to  point  out  the  fallacy  of  such  reasoning  as 
underlies  our  wealth  theories.  The  utter  irrelevancy  of  such  doc- 
trines must  be  demonstrated,  before  we  can  commence  to  lay 
down  more  rational  ideas  about  the  causes  which  lead  to  the 
creation  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth. 

Neither  soil,  climate,  aspect  of  the  country,  rivers,  density  of 
population  are  of  account  if  the  one  great  spring  of  all  blessings  is 
wanting  :  security  from  aggression  and  freedom  from  restraint. 
The  burden  of  poverty  of  states  is  self-im])oscd.  Narrow  selfish- 
ness has  riveted  the  chains  which  hold  men  to  poverty  and  want  ; 
selfishness  blinded  by  greed,  not  the  clear-sighted  selfish  principle, 
but  its  baser  aspect  as  represented  by  the  robber  baron's,  "  Stand 


M5 

and  deliver."  Enliglitcned  selfishness  would  understand,  that  the 
greatest  good  to  all  is  the  source  from  which  the  greatest  benefit  to 
the  indivitlual  must  arise.  State-craft,  making  itself  the  tool  of  a 
class,  of  an  interest,  of  a  policy  in  the  interest  of  a  part,  no  matter 
how  large,  must  necessarily  detract  from  the  happiness  of  the 
whole.  A\'ithout  these  restraints  put  on  labor,  on  capital,  or  exer- 
tion, every  one  exercises  his  fullest  capacity  to  the  bettering  of  his 
circumstances,  and  becomes  the  most  formidable  instrument  in  the 
creation  of  wealth.  This  principle,  now  carried  out  in  proportion- 
ate degree  only,  explains  the  greater  or  smaller  amount  of  wealth 
represented  in  our  table  of  wealth  of  the  different  nations.  A 
hundred  years  have  passed  since  the  great  master  of  political 
economy  uttered  these  memorable  words  : 

"  The  uniform,  constant,  and  uninterrupted  effort  of  every  man 
to  better  his  condition,  the  principle  from  which  public  and  na- 
tional as  well  as  private  opulence  is  originally  derived,  is  fre- 
quently powerful  enough  to  maintain  the  natural  progress  of 
things  towards  improvement,  in  spite  holh  of  the  extravagance 
of  government  and  of  the  greatest  errors  of  administration.  Like 
the  unknown  principle  of  animal  life,  it  frequently  restores  health 
and  vigor  to  the  constitution,  in  spite,  not  only  of  the  disease,  but 
of  the  absurd  prescription  of  the  doctor."  ("  Wealth  of  Nations," 
book  ii.,  p.  141.) 

"  The  natural  effort  of  every  individual  to  better  his  own  condi- 
tion, when  suffered  to  exert  itself  with  freedom  and  security,  is  so 
powerful  a  principle,  that  it  is  alone  and  without  any  assistance, 
not  only  capable  of  carrying  on  the  society  to  wealth  and  pros- 
perity, but  of  surmounting  a  hundred  impertinent  obstructions 
with  which  the  folly  of  human  laws  too  often  encumbers  its  opera- 
tions."   ("  Wealth  of  Nations,"  book  iv.,  p.  221.) 

Though  neglected,  even  spurned,  these  great  ])rinciples  always 
come  back  with  increased  force  after  every  practical  attempt  in 
the  opposite  direction.  The  most  careful  and  painstaking  inquiry 
cannot  discover  any  other  causes  underlying  the  greater  or  smaller 
degree  of  prosperity,  than  in  the  neglect  or  practice  to  a  greater  or 
smaller  degree  of  this  great  and  broad  }3rinciple  under  whose  cover 
the  material  and  ideal  progress  of  the  race  finds  shelter  and  am- 
plest room  for  development.    Society  is  a  living  organism.    Society 


146 

must  find  her  own  cures  for  all  possible  ills  which  may  arise.  But 
these  ills  will  find  least  room  to  develop  in  the  body,  if  treated 
like  those  of  a  healthy  organism,  instead  of  a  sickly  being  always 
to  be  prescribed  for  and  held  under  anxious  and  watchful  nursing. 

Freedom,  however,  is  not  license.  It  is  not  understood,  that 
the  depressing  and  oppressing  powers  of  government,  against 
which  the  "  Economists  "  of  the  last  century  put  their  energetic 
protest  into  their  "  laissez  faire,  laissez  passer"  should  be  arro- 
gated by  individuals  or  corporations.  This  powerful  remonstrance 
was  as  outspoken  against  the  fungi  of  that  time,  as  against  the  in- 
terference of  an  absolute  government  with  individual  liberty  of  ac- 
tion. To  limit  these  powers  to  a  minimum  must  always  continue 
to  be  the  solicitude  of  government.  It  can  never  be  classified 
among  the  prerogatives  of  a  fraction,  to  rob  the  people  at  large  of 
their  common  rights.  The  guaranty  of  the  rights  of  the  poorest 
individual  is  the  essence  of  the  free  state,  ^\■here  they  are  as- 
sailed, as  a  matter  of  course,  the  government's  function  begins. 
But  even  here  care  must  be  taken  lest  interference,  except  against 
actual  violators  of  laws,  should  intensify  tlie  evil  which  is  to  be 
dealt  with,  or  cause  evils  of  far  greater  moment  to  arise. 

I  will  give  an  example  in  our  railroads.  No  other  agency, 
created  by  government,  delegating  its  rights  of  eminent  domain, 
has  done  so  much  to  abuse  a  privilege  and  a  trust  as  our 
railroads. 

Called  into  existence  at  a  time  when  only  the  freest  and  fullest 
grants  of  rights  and  concessions  could  have  induced  the  necessarily 
large  investments,  to  embark  into  enterprises  of  a  doubtful  char- 
acter. The  liberal  rules  then  laid  down  became  in  most  parts  the 
framework  of  all  future  legislation.  The  State  governments  re- 
served but  few  rights.  One  of  the  leading  principles  was,  that  all 
customers  were  to  be  treated  alike,  that  an  excess  of  net  earnings 
over  a  certain  percentage  was  to  revert  to  the  State,  etc.  But  how 
have  they  been  abused  ? 

Discriminations  in  freight  rates  have  been  carried  to  an  extent 
that  populous  towns,  remunerative  enterprises,  were  ruined.  In- 
dividual cnerpy  was  paralyzed.  Gigantic  monopolies,  fostered 
and  fed  by  railroad  favor,  sprang  up,  destroying  all  competitors, 
who  were  rash  enough   to  stand  up  against  a  most  daring,  un- 


\ 


147 

scrupulous  foe.  To  charge  whatever  "  the  traffic  will  fetch  "  was 
the  rule  of  all  lines  who  had  sole  command  of  the  field.  Great 
earnings,  far  beyond  the  stipulated  limit,  led  to  fraud,  to  the  in- 
vention of  "construction  accounts,"  into  whose  coffers  the  surplus 
was  loaded.  From  there  to  the  capitalization  of  earnings,  to  the 
watering  of  stocks,  to  the  increase  of  capital  share  to  double  and 
treble  the  actual  outlay.  Wealth  was  created  by  the  happy  pos- 
sessors of  the  inner  control  to  the  extent  of  tens  and  hundreds  of 
millions.  Valueless  stocks  and  scrips  were  by  misrepresentations 
raised  to  par.  Once  tested,  this  easy  way  of  ])ockcling  the 
people's  savings  was  resorted  to  in  another  way,  namely,  by  de- 
pressing the  value  of  stocks  so  as  to  make  innocent  holders  sell 
out  at  a  great  loss.  Then  they  were  bought  in.  The  next  step 
was  to  raise  their  value  again  by  fabricated  stories  of  high  earn- 
ings and  misleading  financial  reports.  Great  as  the  loss  was  all 
the  time  to  the  honest,  frugal  individual  who  allowed  himself  to 
be  caught  within  the  meshes  of  the  immense  net,  spread  over  the 
country,  yet,  strange  to  say,  the  gain  to  the  whole  people  was 
greater.  The  projection  and  building  of  railroads  became  thereby 
the  aim  of  those  who  were  eager  to  get  control  of  an  inside  line  of 
their  own.  Doubtlessly  this  sordid  greed  caused  more  lines  to  be 
built  in  the  short  period  of  five  years,  from  1S79  to  18S3,  than 
would  have  been  laid  on  the  soil  in  fifteen,  had  actual  necessity 
and  honest  enterprise  commanded  their  construction.  The  earn- 
ings of  railroads  in  consequence  of  this  duplication  have  sunk  to 
a  minimum.  Many  are  bankrupt,  others  are  on  the  verge  of  bank- 
ruptcy, and  unless  prevented  by  combination,  competition  between 
rival  lines  is  becoming  so  keen,  that  net  earnings  are  often  entirely 
out  of  sight.  But  the  people  have  a  system  of  railroads  which 
cannot  be  undone.  All  the  sections  are  united.  The  vast  agri- 
cultural stores  of  the  country  are  carried  to  the  sea-shore  at  so 
trifling  an  expense,  that,  as  stated  above,  our  own  husbandmen 
are  growing  in  prosperity,  while  Europe's  great  landholders 
tremble  at  the  peaceful  revolution  wrought  within  a  half  a  gen- 
eration. In  all  this  I  do  not  propose,  but  simply  depose.  I  do 
not  propose  action  or  theory,  but  simply  show  that  the  free  ex- 
ercise of  competitive  action,  even  when  showing  itself  in  its  worst 
and  most   repelling   features,  is  fully  capable  of  working  its  own 


148 


cure,  or   at   least   of   bringing   out   a  compensatory  advantnge  to 
society. 

THE    FALLACY    OF     GREAT     COMPETITION     OF     LABOR     RESULTING 

IN    SMALL    EARNINGS. 

This  theory  is  born  by  the  wage-fund  theory,  that  there  is  only 
a  certain  part  of  the  capital  of  a  country  available  for  the  re- 
muneration of  labor,  that  wages  are  fixed  by  the  ratio  between  the 
number  of  laborers  and  the  amount  of  capital  devoted  to  the  em- 
ployment of  labor.  We  have  given  sufificient  space  to  the  refuta- 
tion of  this  worn-out  theory  in  Chapter  XIII.  Wages  are  paid, 
high  or  low,  in  proportion  to  the  work  that  is  in  demand,  be  there 
an  abundance  or  a  want  of  capital,  as  in  new  countries.  Wages 
are  gauged  by  opportunities  offered  for  work.  That  they  do  not 
depend  on  density  of  population,  or  even  on  the  numbers  seeking 
employment,  or  competition,  when  opportunities  are  plentiful,  can 
be  seen  by  comparing  the  state  and  composition  of  society  in 
France  in  the  XVII.  century,  and  that  of  our  own  country  in  our 
own  time. 

Vauban's  tables,  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  give  us  a 
statement  of  the  composition  of  French  society  towards  the  end 
of  the  XYII.  century,  which  I  will  introduce  here  for  com- 
parison : 


Clergy     ..... 

Ndliilily 

Privileged  classes       .... 
Govcrninent  employes,  merchants,  etc. 
Peasnnis,  f.irm  l.ibnrers,  etc. 
louineymen,  mfclianics,  and  laborers 
'Domestic  servants       .... 
Beggars 


266,000 
250,000 


516,000 
2,300,000 
5,200,000 
8, 30.), coo 
2, 100,000 
2,600,000 


19,000,000 


The  number  of  offices  created  under  the  old  regime  was  fabu- 
lous. They  gave  distinction,  and  were  eagerly  sought  and  paid 
for  by  the  bourgeois  classes.  It  is  not  too  high  to  estimate  their 
number — the  army  and  navy,  etc. — at  1,000,000.  These,  domestic 
servants,  beggars,  and  the  i)rivileged  classes,  all  non-joroducers, 
deducted  from  the  total,  leaves  12,800,000  as  belonging  to  those 
engaged  in  useful  occupations,  or  65  per  cent,  against  35  per  cent. 


149 

taken  out  of  competition  for  employment  in  useful  occupations. 
Domestic  servants,  of  course,  are  a  very  useful  class,  but  it  will  be 
readily  understood  that  they  do  not  come  within  our  category. 
Beggars  mii^ht  have  competed  for  employment,  if  they  could  have 
found  it.  But  their  existence  to  so  large  an  extent  shows  clearly 
that  the  opportunities  were  wanting,  and  tliat  they  preferred  a  life 
of  idleness  and  misery  to  a  life  of  toil  and  misery,  which  was  the 
rule  of  life  of  the  worl;ing  classes  of  the  golden  age. 

Our  own  population  are  all  workers.  A  life  of  idleness  is  a 
source  of  annoyance  to  even  our  wealthiest  people.  They  cannot 
endure  it  for  any  length  of  time,  when  withdrawn  from  active  life, 
partly  from  habit,  general  example,  and  from  a  total  absence  of  an 
idle  class  to  lend  companionship. 

In  a  nation  of  17,000,000  of  actively  employed  persons  we  have 

1,000,000  of  domestic  servants, 
60,000  clergymen, 
2 5, coo  .soldiers  and  sailors, 
115,000  employes  uf  government,  or 


1, 200,000 


which  can  at  all  be  called  as  standing  outside  of  competition,  or  7 
per  cent,  against  35  per  cent,  under  the  old  conditions.  Still  with 
all  this  great  competitive  force,  with  all  tliis  fierce  competition 
going  on  in  this  country,  with  all  this  great  working  force  con- 
stantly employed  or  seeking  employment,  with  all  this  absence  of 
privileged  classes,  of  army,  clergy,  and  governmental  supervisors 
of  every  man's  action,  wages  are  higher  here  than  in  any  other 
country  where  these  elements  still  exercise  a  powerful  influence  in 
reducing  the  active  force  of  competitors  for  employment.  But  it 
is  just  this  absence  of  idlers,  this  abundance  of  workers,  which 
creates  constantly  new  o[)portunities  for  employment.  It  is  the 
absence  of  privileged  classes,  of  armies,  of  navies,  which  increases 
the  value  of  labor  and  of  earnings.  And  above  all  it  is  the  great 
freedom  Avhich  we  enjoy  in  regulating  our  internal  affairs.  It 
seems  almost  useless  to  reassert  here,  that  with  such  facts  before 
our  eyes  as  the  results  of  freedom,  it  is  almost  a  thing  beyond 
comprehension  that  we  have  not  extended  as  yet  the  great  theory 
of  freedom  into  the  laws  governing  our  external  affairs. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

APPLICATION     OF    GENERAL    FACTS     TO     OUR    INDUSTRIAL    SITUA- 
TION. 

The  following  we  may  set  down  as  prominent  characteristics 
of  American  industrial  life" : 

r.   Great  productiveness  of  labor  in  general. 

2.  Universal  application  of  machinery. 

3.  Profuseness  of  production,  necessarily  requiring  great  con- 
sumption and  an  unrestrained  outlet  for  the  product. 

Unless  this  is  obtained  production  will  become  depressed, 
which  means  that  the  standard  of  living  of  the  working  classes 
will  become  reduced,  and  labor  as  well  as  capital  lose  its  pros- 
perity in  the  competitive  struggle  for  existence.  The  abundance 
of  our  public  lands  has  so  far  acted  as  a  safety-valve.  Without 
this  natural  blessing  the  pressure  would  before  this  have  become 
far  more  intense.  The  pressure  of  limited  markets  upon  our  pro- 
ductive forces  would  have  become  unbearable.  But  even  now, 
with  vast  areas  of  unsettled  lands,  the  danger-line  is  drawing 
nearer  and  nearer.  The  unemployed  classes  find  it  more  difficult 
to  obtain  land  upon  their  terms,  except  in  localities  which  lie  out- 
side of  their  means  of  reaching  them.  If  anywhere,  here  is  the 
rightful  domain  of  government  to  exercise  its  powerful  influences. 
Land  is  the  first  and  most  prominent  regulator  of  the  price  of 
labor.  lis  accessibility  to  the  working  classes  secured  on  easy 
terms  under  a  free  government,  every  other  problem  will  find  its 
own  solution.  The  overabundance  of  our  labor  finds  its  most 
profitable  field  there,  when  our  artificial  commercial  system  con- 
demns vast  armies  of  able  workingmen  to  enforced  idleness.  The 
overabundance  of  our  industrial  products  finds  an  increasing 
market  in  turn,  when  this  surplus  labor  has  found  its  permanent 
resting-place  again.  Then  in  return  a  growing  demand  arises 
from  lessened  production  in  industrial  branches   and   increasing 

150 


'51 

demand  from  extended  agricultural  centres,  which  demand  cannot 
be  filled  at  once,  and  we  have  the  "  boom."  This  has  happened 
now  three  times  in  periods  of  seven  to  eight  years  during  the  last 
twenty  years  under  our  present  fiscal  system  :  Two  to  three  years 
of  great  demand  and  high  prices,  followed  by  four  to  five  years  of 
decline  and  fierce  competitive  war  among  ourselves.  We  could 
turn  our  energies  to  more  fruitful  and  less  mortifying  struggles  if 
we  were  permitted  to  turn  them  upon  foreign  prey.  The  situation 
would  be  changed  at  once  if  we  were  permitted  to  trade  with  a 
thousand  millions  of  people,  instead  of  fifty-six  millions,  upon 
equal  terms  with  other  nations.  This  we  cannot  do  successfully 
as  long  as  there  is  a  tax  upon  our  raw  material. 

The  labor-cost  of  American  work  is  so  small  an  item  now  in  the 
construction  of  any  article,  that  it  is  great  negligence  on  the  part 
of  our  Iceislators  to  continue  in  force  statutes  that  tend  to  increase 
the  price  of  materials  of  manufacture.  To  obtain  markets  under 
those  conditions  is  possible  only  by  pressing  down  the  earnings  of 
working  people  and  of  their  employers.  Both  have  to  suffer, 
either  through  intense  pressure  of  home  competition  or  through 
reductions  necessary  to  counterbalance  the  higher  cost  of  ma- 
terial, if  they  seek  foreign  outlets  for  the  product  of  their  skill  and 
energy.  Take  for  example  the  clock  manufacture  in  America. 
Everything  pertaining  to  the  complex  structure  of  a  clock  is  done 
on  the  same  premises,  even  to  the  making  of  the  machinery  which 
is  used  in  turning  every  part  of  the  work  from  the  raw  material 
into  its  proper  shape  for  ultimate  use  in  a  clock.  The  raw  material 
used  is  pig-iron,  block-tin,  and  copper,  lumber,  etc., — in  short,  the 
crudest  forms  in  which  materials  are  known  to  the  trade.  The 
rapidity  of  work,  the  quantities  turned  out  by  comparatively  little 
labor,  alone  explains  that  very  sightly  clocks  are  made  and  sold  at 
a  dollar  apiece,  of  which  the  direct  labor-cost  does  not  exceed 
twenty-five  cents,  perhaps.  As  a  great  part  of  their  goods  is  sold 
abroad,  it  follows  that  the  labor  employed  by  these  works  at  the 
highest  rates  ruling  in  the  United  States  ($550,  according  to  the 
census  of  1S80,  while  the  general  average  of  factory  labor  is  only 
$350  ^  year)  has  to  find  markets  in  competition  with  European 
labor,  which  does  not  earn  one  third  as  much  per  day.  Excepting 
lumber  for  the  frames,  perhaps  there  is  not  a  dollar's  worth  of 


material  used  in  the  construction  of  these  goods  which  could  not 
be  bought  at  eighty  cents,  and  from  that  down  to  sixty-five  cents, 
by  any  German,  Swiss,  or  English  concern  wiili  Avhose  products 
Americans  have  to  compete  in  the  world's  markets.  The  same 
could  be  said  about  our  sewing-  and  other  machines,  tools,  imple- 
ments, fence-wire,  and  so  forth. 

I  have  lately  visited  one  of  our  Eastern  shoe-factories,  and  ex- 
amined the  numberless  details  of  work  through  which  the  materials 
have  to  go,  until  the  last  finish  is  put  on  a  very  graceful  pair  of 
lady's  button-boots.  Excepting  the  cutting  of  the  pieces,  every- 
thing is  done  by  machinery,  even  to  the  sewing  on  of  the  buttons, 
one  of  the  latest  Yankee  inventions.  The  combined  cost  of  the 
many  operations  does  not  exceed  the  sum  of  thirty  cents.  The 
factory  jirice  i)er  dozen  is  $15,  or  say,  $1.10  net  per  pair.  This 
includes  packing  expenses  (wooden  case  and  a  paper  box  in  whicli 
each  pair  is  packed).  They  are  retailed  probably  at  $1.75,  and 
are  good,  solid,  honest  leather  goods.  No  pastework.  The  earn- 
ings of  the  operatives  are  the  average  paid  for  this  kind  of  work, 
and  certainly  twice  as  high  as  paid  in  England  or  anywhere  in 
Europe.  As  every  thing  is  piece-work,  the  operatives  can  earn 
high  wages  only  when  they  possess  an  amount  of  efficiency  and 
skill,  which  are  acknowledged  characteristics  of  Eastern  opera- 
tives, male  or  female.  The  degree  of  intelligence  and  nerve 
power  which  the  faces  of  the  operatives  show  would  hardly  be 
found  in  any  factory  outside  of  America,  and  is  the  only  answer 
we  can  give  to  the  oft-repeated  question  :  How  if  other  nations 
adopt  our  methods  ?  Many  an  English  shoemaker,  attracted  by 
the  high  earnings  of  operatives  in  American  factories,  had  to  give 
up  the  contest,  as  he  could  not  earn  half  the  wages  of  an  American 
with  the  same  tools  and  in  the  same  factory. 

But  other  nations  are  slow  to  adopt  our  methods.  The  Berliner 
Tageblatt  of  September,  18S4,  in  a  long  editorial,  gives  vent  to  its 
astonishment  at  the  exposition  of  an  "  iron  shoemaker  " — "  der 
eiserne  Schuhmacher  " — at  the  Industrial  Exposition  of  Vienna. 
The  writer  dwells  upon  the  fact  that  there  are  250,000  shoemakers 
in  Germany,  and  that  the  introduction  of  machine-shoemaking 
would  displace  certainly  200,000  shoemakers,  and  he  consequently 
deprecates  the  innovation. 


153 

Now  I  will  not  disparage  on  Germany's  great  advantages.  Her 
future  is  as  full  of  promise,  as  her  remoter  past,  dealt  with  in  a 
previous  chapter,  has  been  great  in  the  fields  of  enterprise,  culture, 
and  labor.  With  a  studious,  painstaking  mind,  assisted  by  insti- 
tutions of  learning  in  the  fields  of  technology  as  well  as  in  other 
sciences,  unsurpassed  and  unequalled  by  any  nation,  her  employ- 
ing classes  eagerly  push  to  the  foreground.  None  are  more  eager 
students  of  our  practical  lessons  than  the  Germans.  In  the  shoe 
industry  her  manufacturers  come  over  here,  to  learn  and  study 
our  system.  Only  last  summer  one  of  them  came  over  to  work 
his  way  through  a  shoe-factory  in  Lynn.  When  I  asked  of  a  Lynn 
manufacturer  why  they  were  not  more  guarded  in  imparting  the 
secrets  of  their  trade  to  foreigners,  he  answered  :  "  They  cannot 
do  us  any  harm.  If  we  had  our  materials  free,  and  they  had  all 
our  machinery,  we  could  beat  them  yet  with  all  their  cheap  labor." 
Continuing  he  said  :  "  The  trouble  with  the  Germans  is,  they 
don't  give  their  labor  a  fair  show.  When  they  introduce  machin- 
ery by  which  they  save  in  the  cost  of  labor,  they  right  away  go  to 
work  to  cut  down  the  wages.  This  takes  all  ambition  out  of  the 
work,  and  the  result  is  that  they  get  little  ahead.  One  concern  in 
Koburg  has  begun  to  work  on  a  more  liberal  principle,  encour- 
aging high  earnings,  with  very  satisfactory  results." 

We  find  the  great  practical  bearing  of  this  lucid  expression  of 
the  true  philosophy  of  wages  fully  corroborated  by  ocular  proofs. 
Man  must  see  a  chance  before  him,  to  work  his  way  upward,  if  he 
is  to  employ  his  capacity  to  its  fullest  extent.  There  must  be 
elbow-room.  Fully  used  to  this,  American  workers,  placed  side  by 
side  with  European,  show  soon  enough  that  they  are  made  of  dif- 
ferent metal.  I  will  give  an  extract  from  a  recent  article  of  Prof. 
Dieffenbach,  one  of  the  highest  German  authorities  on  technical 
education,  in  illustration.     He  says  : 

"  More  surprising  still  is  the  influence  of  North  America  upon 
handicrafts,  and  especially  on  the  whole  domain  of  mechanical 
technology.  Here  there  is  still  a  very  wide  difference  between 
Germany  and  the  United  States.  While  our  chemical  technology 
has  been  distinguished  by  extraordinary  advances,  in  consequence 
of  which  our  chemical  manufacturers  hav'e  recently  conquered  a 
multitude  of  new  markets,  our  mechanical  technology  has  not 
developed  at  the  same  rate. 


IS4 

"There  is  a  striking  difference  between  the  every-day  require- 
ments of  the  mechanical  trades  in  Germany  and  America.  Com- 
paring the  tools  of  the  American  mechanic  and  the  German,  we 
find  the  difference  about  as  great  as  that  between  our  axes  and 
hammers  and  the  axes  and  hatchet  of  the  stone  age.  By  means 
of  an  excellently  arranged  collection,  originated  by  Privy-Coun- 
cillor Dr.  Hartig,  Professor  of  Mechanical  Technology,  the  Royal 
Polytechnic  Institution  at  Dresden  has  made  an  intelligent  exhi- 
bition of  the  gradual  evolution  of  tools  used  in  working  wood, 
stone,  and  metals,  in  spinning  and  weaving.  In  this  collection  the 
oldest  forms  attainable  are  exhibited  side  by  side  with  the  newest, 
generally  American,  forms.  These  latter  are  not  only  distinguished 
by  superior  elegance  and  finish,  but  are  handier  and  more  reliable 
in  their  work.  It  is  true  that  this  juxtaposition  of  widely  diver- 
gent forms  is  not  meant  to  convey  the  opinion  that  the  new  are 
preferable  in  every  respect,  but  to  lead  beholders  to  reflect  upon 
the  possibility  of  improving  the  forms  hitherto  clung  to  wiih  great 
tenacity  in  our  workshops,  and  to  show  them  that  such  improve- 
ments, both  in  durability  and  effectiveness,  can  in  many  cases  be 
accomplished  at  but  slightly  increased  cost.  In  many  things  the 
United  States  may  serve  us  as  a  pattern,  and  we  feel  sure  that  the 
example  given  us  will  not  fail  to  be  imitated  in  the  Old  World. 

"  Sewing-machines,  as  well  as  machines  for  boring,  lifting,  and 
sawing,  were  first  given  a  more  practical  construction,  first  brought 
to  perfection,  in  America.  America  brought  about  a  complete 
evolution  in  the  manufacture  of  leather,  the  most  important  after 
iron.  There  new  and  better  tanning  materials  were  first  intro- 
duced, and  there,  too,  new  animal  textures  adapted  to  tanning 
were  discovered, — as,  for  instance,  the  skin  of  the  alligator  and 
crocodile,  which  has  so  quickly  won  popular  favor.  There,  too, 
leather  was  first  split,  and  the  splitting-machine  is  an  American 
invention.  But,  above  all,  America  started  a  revolution  in  shoe- 
making,  which  is  now  being  carried  out  in  the  Old  World.  It 
embraces  the  tools  used  by  the  ordinary  shoemaker,  as  well  as 
machinery.  Among  the  tools,  we  mention  the  edge-trimmer, 
Dunham  edge-trimmer,  polisliing  irons,  polishing  wheels,  and 
heel-shave. 

"  What  an  American  workman  is  able  to  accomplish  by  means  of 


155 

these  tools,  may  be  seen  by  an  example.  The  writer  of  this  article 
spent  a  portion  of  1S78  and  1879  in  I.eipsic,  where  he  became 
acquainted  with  a  manufacturer  of  boots  and  shoes.  One  day  an 
American  applied  for  work  ;  he  stated  that  he  had  come  to  Ger- 
many on  account  of  his  son,  who  had  a  talent  for  music,  and 
whom  he  wished  to  have  educated  at  the  Conservatory.  He  said 
that  he  was  looking  for  work  in  order  to  pay  his  son's  expenses, 
and  he  desired  to  be  allowed  to  use  tools  that  he  had  brought  over 
from  America.  The  manufacturer  agreed.  Now,  the  American 
appeared  at  his  place  daily,  looked  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the 
left,  but  attended  to  his  work  to  the  last  stroke  of  the  bell.  The 
manufacturer  soon  noticed  that  he  had  obtained  a  man  fully  equal 
to  the  German  hands  in  thoroughness  and  skill,  and  capable  of 
turning  out  three  to  four  times  as  much  as  any  other,  thanks  to 
his  exemplary  diligence  and  his  American  tools.  Wages  being  by 
the  piece,  the  man  earned  more  than  enough  to  support  himself 
and  his  son. 

"  In  addition,  we  are  tempted  to  remark  that  the  American  self- 
made  man  appeared  to  great  advantage.  A  German  family  that 
discovers  a  pretty  voice  or  some  other  musical  talent  in  one  of  the 
children,  does  not  feel  called  upon  to  provide  for  the  cultivation  of 
such  gift.  It  petitions  for  a  scholarship  ;  it  begs  the  sovereign 
and  wealthy  patrons  of  art  for  assistance,  and  believes  it  to  be  the 
duty  of  all  lovers  of  art  to  help  along  the  wonderful  child,  which 
might,  nevertheless,  one  day  do  itself  and  the  world  better  service 
by  plying  the  needle  or  knitting  stockings.  Among  us,  in  Ger- 
many, great  sums  of  money  are  spent  every  year  in  the  education 
of  so-called  artists,  and  yet  the  expenditure  is  simply  and  abso- 
lutely so  much  money  wasted.  What  did  the  American  working- 
man  think  and  do  ?  He  regarded  the  education  of  his  son  as  a 
speculation.  I  shall,  he  thought,  work  a  few  years  longer  ;  I  shall 
work  harder,  if  need  be,  but  if  I  am  lucky  I  shall  have  no  cares  in 
my  old  age,  and  be  under  obligation  to  nobody." 

In  this  generous  recognition  of  the  American's  worth.  Professor 
Dieffenbach  touches  the  main-spring  of  America's  success.  It  is 
a  gift  from  within,  not  from  without.  The  American  knows  that  he 
is  the  maker  of  his  own  destiny.  He  aspires  to  the  highest.  Free- 
dom from  restraint  has  developed  the  highest  type  in  America. 


156 

With  such  productive  powers  at  our  command,  with  the  labor- 
cost  reduced  to  so  trivial  a  sum,  the  cutting-down  process  resorted 
to  by  manufacturers,  as  a  means  of  stemming  the  ruinous  tide  of 
competition,  is  absolutely  superfluous.  It  docs  not  alleviate  the 
evil  ;  it  intensifies  it.  It  cannot  make  American  markets  consume 
more  product.  It  cannot  give  us  foreign  markets,  so  long  as  our 
materials  are  heavily  taxed.  Our  labor,  assisted  by  machinery,  is 
so  efficient  and  cheap  now,  that  with  free  materials  we  could 
advance  our  labor  price,  and  still  be  able  to  undersell  European 
labor  in  any  of  the  neutral  markets  of  the  world.  We  could  add 
to  the  yearly  earnings  of  our  toiling  millions  many  a  week's,  nay 
month's,  employment  beyond  that  offered  by  our  circumscribed 
markets  at  home.  By  opening  foreign  markets  to  the  products  of 
the  toil  of  our  workers  at  home,  and  thus  increasing  their  earn- 
ings, we  should  create  the  most  lucrative  colonies  that  any  nation 
has  had  in  the  history  of  the  world. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 

The  report  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Crefeld,  just  pub- 
lished, shows  clearly  that  very  little  change  has  taken  place  as  yet 
in  the  industrial  system  of  the  German  centre  of  silk  manufac- 
ture. 

The  average  number  of  weavers  and  looms  employed  during 
the  years  1SS2,  1883,  and  1884  were  as  follows  : 


1882. 

1883. 

1884. 

Velvet  and  plush,  hand, 

17,812 

21,770 

22,085 

"         "        "      power 

299 

651 

1,018 

Velvet  iil)Iions,  hand 

541 

1,003 

484 

"         "           power    . 

72 

159 

68 

Silks  and  satins,  hand    . 

16,425 

12,690 

12.987 

"        "        "        power  . 

400 

657 

893 

Cut  ribbons,  hand     . 

5S 

80 

\       - 

"          "          power  . 

25 

Totals 

35-632 

37.010 

37,605 

The  advantages  derived  from  the  employment  of  hand-looms  in 
the  silk  industry  are  manifold.  One  of  great  importance  in  price- 
making  is  the  employment  of  cheaper  kinds  of  silk,  while  the 
power-loom  requires  the  best  and  most  expensive  grades.  This, 
and  the  greater  facility  of  changing  looms  to  suit  the  manifold  re- 
quirements of  fashion,  the  greater  ability  of  the  manufacturer  to 
regulate  his  production  according  to  the  demand,  and  thus  putting 
the  burden  of  depression  upon  the  workingman  instead  of  carry- 
ing the  greatest  share  himself,  as  is  the  case  with  owners  of  power- 
mills,  may  be  given  as  correlative  reasons  for  the  slow  progress 
which  the  power-mill  has  made  in  Europe  in  the  silk  industry. 

157 


WORKS  FOR  CITIZENS  AND  STUDENTS. 


THE  AMERICAN    CITIZEN'S   MANUAL.      By  Worthington 

C.  Ford. 

Part  I. — Governments   (National,  State,    and   Local),  the   Electorate, 

and  the  Civil  Service.    "  Questions  of  the  Day,"  Volume  IV.  Octavo, 

cloth       ...........        .75 

Part  II. — The    Functions    of     Government,    considered  with    special 
reference  to  Taxation  and  Expenditure,  the  Regulation  of  Commerce 
and  Industry,  Provision   for  the  Poor  and   Insane,  the  Management 
of  the    Public    Lands,  etc.       "  Questions   of   the    day,"  Volume    V. 
Octavo,  cloth  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .        -75 

A  work  planned  to  afford  in  compact  form  a  comprehensive  summary  of  the 
nature  of  the  orjianization  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  National,  State, 
and  Local,  and  of  the  duties,  privileges,  and  the  responsibilities  of  American  citizens. 
"  Mr.  Ford  writes  thoughtfully,  carefully,  impartially,  and  furnishes  one  of  the 
best  imaginable  manuals  that  could  be  prepared  for  circulation  on  either  side  of  the 
Atlantic."— A^.  Y.  World. 

SIX  CENTURIES  OF  WORK  AND  WAGES.     The  History  of 
English  Labor  (1250-1S83).     liy  James  E.  Thorold  Rogers,  M.P. 
Large  octavo     ..........     $4.00 

Principal  Contents. — Rural  England,  Social  Life,  Agriculture,  Town  Life, 
The  Distribution  of  Wealth  and  Trade,  Society,  Wages,  Profit,  Discontent,  Combina- 
tions, Insurrection,  The  Development  of  Taxation,  Labor,  and  Wages,  Agriculture 
and  Ai^ricultural  Wages  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  Wages  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  Present  Situation,  etc. 

"  The  author  supports  his  arguments  by  so  many  strong  considerations,  that  he 
is  entitled  to  the  patient  study  of  all  who  are  interested  in  economic  subjects,  and 
especially  of  those  who  feel  that  the  social  problem  is  by  no  means  solved,  in  the 
accepted  Political  Economy,  and  needs  other  and  more  organic  remedies  than  are 
suggested  in  the  orthodox  treatises." — Commercial  Advertiser ,  N.  Y. 

ELEMENTS  OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  By  Emile  de  Lave- 
LEYE,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the  University  of  Liege. 
Translated  by  Alfred  W.  Pollard,  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 
Edited  with  an  introduction  and  supplementary  chapter  by  F.  W. 
Taussig,  Instructor  in  Political  Economy.     i2mo,  cloth  .         .     $1.50 

POLITICS.  An  Introduction  to  the  study  of  Comparative  Constitutional 
Law.       By    William    W.     Crane  and    Bernard     Moses.      8vo, 

cloth $1.50 

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»us."—  Co»imon7vealth,  Boston. 

R.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK. 


RECENT  WORKS   IN   ECONOMIC   SCIENCE. 


WELLS,  Practical  Economics.  A  collection  of  essays  respecting 
certain  of  the  recent  economic  experiences  of  the  United  States.  By 
David  A.  Wells,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.     Octavo,  cloih       .         .         .         $i   5° 

Contents.— A  Modern  Financial  Utopia;  The  True  Story  of  the  Leaden  Statuary; 
The  Silver  Question;  Are  Gold  and  Silver  Indispensable  as  Measures  of  Value .>; 
Tariff  Revision:  Us  Necessity  and  Possible  Methods;  The  Most  Recent  Phases  of 
the  Tariff  Question;  The  '•  Foreign  Competitive  Pauper-Labor"  Argument  for  Pro- 
tection ;  Our  Experience  in  Taxing  Distilled  Spirits;  Influence  of  the  Production  and 
Distribution  of  AN'eallh  on  Social  Development. 

BAGEHOT.  The  Postulates  of  English  Political  Economy.  By 
the  late  Walter  Bagehot,  M.  A.  With  a  preface  by  Alfred  Marshall,  Pro- 
fessor of  Political  Economy,  Cambridge  (Eng.).      i2mo,  cloth  .  $I  oo 

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doctrine  laid  down  broadly  in  the  elementary  books,  and  will  suggest  the  qualifacation 
which  must  be  attached  to  these  doctrines."  — F.  W.  Taussig. 

TAUSSIG.     Protection   to   Young   Industries   as   Applied   in  the 

United    States.     A  Study  in  Economic  History.     By  F.  W.  Taussig. 

Octavo,  cloth    ....•••••  75 

"  Mr.  Taussig  has  done  an  admirable  work  in  this  essay  in  furnishing  an  example  of 
the  most  useful  form  in  which  the  tariff  question  may  be  studied  and  explained  ;  and 
he  deserves  a  large  circle  of  attentive  readers."— C/;zVa.^(j  Tribune. 

The   History   of  The    Present   Tariff.      By   F.    W.    Taussic. 

Octavo,  cloth    .....•••••  75 

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Magazine. 


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NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON. 


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